


Reconstruction

by Anonymous



Series: Unpopular characters and rare pairings [4]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Civil War Team Iron Man, Compressed Timeline, Emotional Dissociation, Endgame, F/M, Iron Man 4, M/M, Meaning several pre-Infinity War events occur at roughly the same period of time, Mental Health Issues, Multi, No character bashing, Polyamory, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pro-Accords, Secret Avengers - Freeform, Tags May Change, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Trope Subversion, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Relationships, Unhealthy Team Dynamics, plot heavy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2018-10-17 04:00:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10586004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: 'I hid my deepest feelings so well I forgot where I placed them' - Amy TanA short while after the Accords have been implemented, Tony finds a unique way to pull himself together. Rhodey is revolutionising entire fields. Vision can fly like a butterfly but wants to sting like a bee. Meanwhile, the Secret Avengers are causing a mess all over the globe for seemingly no reason.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bun fun (AphPandeimos)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=bun+fun+%28AphPandeimos%29), [CyborgWrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyborgWrites/gifts).



> Disclaimers:  
> 1) I haven't watched the Stephen Strange movie.  
> 2) This is going to be long as hell I can already tell.  
> 3) I don't have a beta so there will be mistakes.  
> 4) English is not my first language.

Tony woke up in his room for the third night running. The air was comfortably warm, his sheets and night clothes smelt clean and the sun was shining prettily through his window. He basked in that atmosphere as it was likely the only time he would have his shit together that week. After that he dragged his feet to the small kitchen adjacent to his living room and somehow managed to make edible breakfast without really focusing on it.

"So what am I doing today?"

"Conference call with the lawyers about Section 2 Article 4 of the Accords in 20 minutes." FRIDAY piped up as he sipped his cup of coffee. He had specs for Rhodey's braces projected in front of him. Rhodey would look them over and fine tune it when he woke up. "Conference call with Stephen Strange scheduled for 3 hours from now but might happen later depending on how this situation in Kuala Lumpur goes."

Tony frowned, heart beating faster. "Does he need help?"

"He hasn't asked for it and you're unlikely to get approval to intervene on time."

"Alright. What else?"

"R&D department have some prototypes they want you to look over. Miss Potts would like you to have a talk with Francis Kepler before the end of the day. I'd say ideal time... half past noon. She'll be picking his- and I'm quoting- 'golden watch.' Miss Potts wants you to know that it's metaphorical."

"Yeah, I could tell," Tony said. He finished the last of his coffee to keep from saying anything he might regret. "Not a very packed day."

"Yes," Friday replied.

"I like it. We should have more like this... Let's get to it."

The conference room, a few floors down, was already organised. Tony had taken a quick shower before going down just in time for the camera to turn on and a dozen faces projected to the wall in front of him.

"Gentlemen," he greeted. "Let's make this quick and painless."

It had been neither. By the time he was done strategising with them, he had a headache and he felt if he could live 3 lifetimes without hearing the words 'logistical nightmare' again, he would the happiest tercentennial. At least Stephen Strange was almost ready for him.

"FRIDAY, is Rhodey nearby?" 

"He's on his way, boss."

"Good." Tony had found that Avenger recruitment went much easier when they weren't dealing with him alone. Rhodey was well liked, respected and received, as he should be. Had it been anyone else Tony would be jealous but he had been with Rhodey for three decades and he knows Rhodey had more than earned this support.

A few minutes later, Rhodey wheeled inside the room and came next to him. He had a Starkpad and Starkpen on his lap. Tony could see complex equations scrawled on.

"You're looking rested."

"I'm trying it out. How about you?" Tony asked taking in Rhodey's creased shirt and ink marks on his hand and a bit on his mouth.

"I need Helen to get here yesterday," Rhodey sighed. "It's hard to move forward when a large part of this is Biology and I don't do well with Biology."

"Oh I know," Tony said grinning remembering the late night study sessions with Rhodey munching desperately on ground beans having bypassed drinking it to stay awake and a hundred post-its littering everywhere. "You figured out how-"

"Yup. Thanks for the microchips and microfans by the way. Now I can test the prototype without second degree burns."

"Baby steps."

"Ha-ha, Stank."

"Boss," FRIDAY interrupted. "Stephen Strange."

A man with a goatee similar to his and in an actual cape was projected on the wall. He had some bruising on his face but was otherwise fine.

"Dr. Strange, it's great to finally talk. Tony Stark and Colonel Rhodes."

"Mr. Stark. Colonel Rhodes, I heard so many good things about you. About the both of you actually."

"How was Kuala Lampur, Doctor?" Rhodey asked.

"Handled and please call me Stephen." Strange said, well not blandly exactly but so formally that it was hard to get a read of him. "Let's talk the Avengers."

Straight to the point, Tony liked that. "We want you to join. There are currently five of us and-"

"Six is the magical number. I want to discuss your bad breakup first to get it over with," Strange said. He was very good at masking what he was thinking. 

"Like everybody else," Rhodey muttered. In a louder voice he said, "Ask your questions."

"Was it just the Accords?"

Luckily Tony was also very good at masking what he was feeling. "Ultron." He said simply like his thoughts don’t turn dark at the memory.

"Ah yes your killer robot." It was one hell of a task to keep looking directly at Strange instead of the ground. Rhodey's hand brushed against Tony's leg under the table. "It's odd, though, don't you think?"

"What's that?" Rhodey asked.

"I'm making assumptions here but why didn't they support the Accords if they disapproved of Ultron enough that you had to leave the team?"

"Leaving was my choice," Tony answered quietly.

"Was it-" Stephen adopted a shrewd look "-because you supported it and they don't trust your judgment?"

"You're right, that was a lot of assuming," Rhodey said tightly. "Look we supported the Accords- we still do- because it was the right thing to do. People like us, like you, can't go around doing what we want. People are scared of us and we have proven that fear right time after time. Besides we're amending what needs fixing which I'm sure you heard. Ultron was a mistake we're not making again. Now can we get to the part where you tell us if you're interested in this team or not?"

Strange annoyingly didn't have a change of expression though Tony could read the slight upturn of the man's mouth and the fact that his head seemed to have inclined a bit in respect but it could also be nothing.

"The Avengers?" Strange asked like he was just remembering. Tony opened his mouth to sell the idea as best as he could. "I want in."

Tony closed his mouth. "Okay."

"When are you flying in?" Rhodey asked sitting up straighter. 

"I want you to understand something. My base in Nepal and I don't think I'll be straying far from there any time soon."

"Okay?"

"I actually wanted to talk to you about multiple bases and having non-American Avengers. I'm sure many countries will breathe easier if some of their own are also taking part in the... avenging."

"That's something Tony and I have been discussing. Still you need to come down here first."

"Fine," Strange said sighing. "But I will not be staying for long."

"We're looking forward to seeing you," Tony said. The connection cut after Strange bade Rhodey goodbye. "You know what would be nice, honey bear?" He reclined his seat and stretched. "If everyone would stop going on about what happened like that's all we are. I mean we're more than that, right?"

"I know I am," Rhodey said with a small smile.

"Oh, so I hallucinated Stark Industries-"

"Yeah, never heard of that."

"-and Iron Man."

"Doesn't ring a bell. War Machine, though, that gets the alarms blaring."

Tony huffs a laugh and just like that he felt better. "FRIDAY's sent you a summary of today's Accords meeting?" Rhodey hummed scribbling some equations on before looking for the file.

"I asked her to note the exact moment I got a headache."

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "You are so dramatic, Stank." He sighed like the most put upon person and continued, "Thank you for your hard work."

"You're welcome," Tony said cheerily. "Read. Tell me what you think. I have to go and pretend I didn't hate Francis Kepler for most of my life."

"Have fun," Rhodey called as he was leaving the room.

Speaking to Kepler was like waxing his balls. Tony spent most of the phone call biting his tongue while Kepler reminisced about some of the low points in Tony's life like his first overdose or the first time a sex tape of him leaked or when a bomb of his was accidently launched at Canadian soldiers. 

"It's been wonderful knowing you," Tony said in an attempt to end the call.

"I'm not dead yet, Stark. Come to my retirement party. You can't be too busy playing dress up with those- those whatevers. Hey, I'll even bring some of our old special friends. It'll be great."

"I'll do my best to make it," Tony said even though he'd rather face Rogers.

"I'll see you then kid. It'll be just like old times." Tony hanged up and exhaled noisily.

"FRIDAY tell Pepper that maybe we should forgo the whole 'golden watch' thing and just... not give him anything."

"Miss Potts knew you'd say that and she said we can't afford to have anyone unhappy after what happened."

"Fine, fine," Tony said dragging his hand over his face. His fingers were trembling which was unexpectedly weird after months of control over his emotions. "I'm not going to that party no matter what she says."

"Miss Potts said she'd never ask you to."

Tony stared at his fingers until the shaking stopped. "What else do we have?"

The prototypes had a few adjustments of the 'don't use those batteries we're not Samsung what the hell guys' variety. He was done just in time to have an afternoon lunch in Rhodey's floor. They made sure to order something before inviting Vision to join them. 

"Oh damn Viz we had no idea you wanted to cook for us," Rhodey said innocently. Ten minutes later he was tearing through the Thai take out. Tony asked Vision about how he has been spending his days now that they were at the Tower instead of the Compound.

"I asked Mr. Hogan if he could give me lessons."

"Oh. Training for the..." Tony turned his body away from Rhodey and waited until Rhodey had ducked down to slurp noodles to point at his forehead. 

Vision said. "No, combat training is on Wednesdays. I realised how important tactile skills are after grappling with AIM. To be quite honest with you, I have always been awed with the Captain."

"You don't need to twirl all over the battlefield to be cool, Viz," Rhodey told him. "You're immaterial when you feel like it and that's like at least ten times cooler."

"Thank you, Rhodey."

"So what's Happy supposed to teach you?" Tony asked swatting Rhodey away from his curry.

"How to drive," Vision answered.

"Why?" Rhodey asked confused. "You can fly."

"It's a useful tool." Vision answered simply. Tony figured it was part of him finding his own humanity or something. Tony guessed that as the only species capable of it, driving was human.

Rhodey got that look on his face as he said, "You could have asked Tony. Every father dreams of showing his son-"

"I don't see Tony as a father figure," Vision said haltingly barely looking at Tony.

"Yeah, Rhodey, I have that term reserved for entirely different set of individuals."

"You always make this weird."

"I mean,” Tony continued like he didn’t hear Rhodey, “they don't say 'father' exactly except for Sister Gretchen. Remember her?"

"You don't go into a Covenant for a one night stand. That's for bars, Tony."

"I thought, 'what's the least likely place one can get an STD?'"

"And yet."

"Shut up I'm clean. Viz, no, stop looking at me like that. I've been clean for decades. Antibiotics. Full course. Never missed a dos-"

"Yeah Viz don't look at him. You'll catch something," Rhodey chocked on laughter when Vision looked to avoid Tony’s eyes by picking up the Starkpad Tony had forced on him months ago. "I'm sorry. That was mean."

"It was. Luckily for you and the fact that you don't currently pay rent, I have no feelings." Tony laughed maybe a tad too maniacal over his cup of coffee with them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a beta so this will have mistakes.

"No offense, Tony, but that was the most suspicious thing you've done all week."

"What?"

Rhodey gestured at him, "That laugh!"

"It was a little... disconcerting," Vision agreed.

"Is it... you know what?" Rhodey gathered up his things. "I've been doing this too long not to know where this will go."

"I thought it was funny. Am I not allowed to be funny anymore without it being an issue?" Tony said defensively.

Rhodey seemed to be fighting with his himself for a second. "It's not a matter of 'are you allowed to be funny?' It's 'can you be?'"

"Ha! Got me. Hope you get stuck on carpet again."

Vision looked awkward again. He seemed to be taking a while to get used how Rhodey and Tony were on their own. 

"It's OK. Mommy and Daddy aren't divorcing."

"See this is why-" Rhodey moved away. "I'm going to go downstairs and be around normal people."

"Love you, pastry crumbs!" Tony called sweetly. Rhodey didn't bother responding.

It was a little hard to get a conversation going after that. Vision drifted away typing on the screen almost fast enough that his fingers looked like they weren't moving. Tony could swear he saw Twitter's logo. The thought of Vision using social media was a little funny until it wasn't. Tony makes a mental note to find Vision's account and stop him from doing anything he shouldn't. Although come to think of it, Vision would know better than give out Avenger secrets. Unless of course something or someone on the internet goaded him. His interactions have been with rational people mostly but the internet was a cesspool that could drive anyone into doing anything. Tony could see Vision unintentionally letting something slip. That is of course supposing Vision even felt emotions like humans did.

"FRIDAY, track Vision's twitter account and compile tweets you find related to the Avengers."

Tony contemplated giving in to the sleepiness he was feeling and taking a nap but instead he went to his lab. Since the Tower was his completely again, Tony had taken five floors and made them into labs that dealt with his suit, Stark Industries R&D, biotechnology, a most comprehensive experimental facility, and a floor where he made plans for the next alien invasion respectively. Rhodey spent most of his days in the biotech floor. Tony made sure it had everything he needed and then left it to him. He felt an itch to his bone to interfere and try to fix what he caused but Rhodey won't have any of it. Rhodey and Vision are the only ones allowed into the last floor. It had the heaviest security Tony had available, after inventing them of course. Today Tony wasn't interested in locking himself up in there given that it was, up to this point, a good day and so he went up past it.

His suit was on a reinforced table nearly completely taken apart. Tony had in the beginning started doing repairs and in his attempt to block the fight that destroyed it from his mind, he had realised the suit was weak and he cannibalised it for parts for two War Machine suits and the next generation Iron Man suits. So far he's been meticulous, going through all the parts even the screws, keeping what could be used as it and recycling what couldn't. He had holograms up to visualise the planned additional weapons he wanted to add as well renditioned experiments on things like how many layers of gold-titanium alloy would he need to withstand vibranium. 

For the first time in a long time, Tony had enough time to really put in work with the suits as technically speaking Tony was no longer able to fly around the globe for Stark Industries given that he was Iron Man. A massive oversight that he could have dealt with earlier had a certain group of people not been as difficult as they were. His legal team was detangling that currently. To be honest, it would have been resolved quickly but the condition so many countries were adamant on was that Tony should leave his suit and any related technology behind. Tony couldn't do that as it would mean he would be vulnerable more often than not. Also what if there was an actual attack and his suit was thousands of miles away? It just wasn't negotiable so it was up to his very well paid legal team to separate Tony from Iron Man in the eyes of Accords which was going well according to the meeting earlier. Free energy from three new massive arc reactors had been doing so well in making him, well likable would be going too far, less loathed. Pepper stepped up with a team of qualified people to cover for him. Tony almost made a joke about how it took a dozen people to fill in his shoes. Instead he said that at the very least now he knew the company would really survive his death. Pepper was not pleased.

"Sir? Vision's Twitter account." A hologram propped up. Tony paused to read.

"The Twitter handle is 'Actuallyhuman'? Are you sure this is Vision's?"

"Yes."

"Then I guess he's being sarcastic. Let's see what he's been talking about."

"At the very top is the ending to a fight that went on for a thousand tweets about football."

" _Football_ football? Futbol or hand egg football? Never mind. Why the hell would he care?"

"He seems to be really interested in and knowledgeable about many topics. Pop culture, PC culture-"

"Oh no. What about it?"

"In the beginning he was against it, I think. Now he's for it. That might have something to do with 2chan. I'll look further-"

"No, no, no. Never go there unless someone is in danger. It's evil." Tony gave an over-the-top shiver. "OK so this is weirding me out. Anything about the Avengers?"

"Nothing. No mention of powered people, Hydra, or the Accords."

Tony didn’t know how to proceed. "Okay. That's good. It’s good that he’s steering clear of that because if someone knew about his Twitter and it had _that_ , PR nightmare. So good. Good."

"I'm assuming I shouldn't mention this breach of privacy to Vision."

Tony pointed a finger sternly at a camera. "He's an infant. We're supposed to look out for him. This is what looking out for people in the adult world looks like, _Friday._ You should know that."

"I am younger than him and you failed to code-"

"Uh, take this as a learning moment. Moving on." 

Tony looked around trying to silence the guilt in his mind when his eyes landed on the furthest corner of the lab. There was another suit. One he had been working on for years. It was completely different from any other suit he had made: sturdier, able to withstand so much weight, faster too, equipped with less weapons. Tony knew, though he hated admitting it, that he could have completed it before Mark VI was even a thing but he was always improving the tech and there was never a right time to hand it over so he kept it and pulled it out on some days. Today seemed like a good day for that.

"FRI could you scan Mark B please?"

"Sure boss."

Another hologram joined in. Tony took the spares he kept just for this suit and placed them on another table. FRIDAY scanned and placed them where they would go on the hologram. That plus the new booster he sketched up the night before meant that Mark B would be at least 13% faster. He'll have to run a simulation to make sure he can catch whatever issues going that fast would cause. Who knows, maybe afterwards it would finally be ready.

After a few hours Tony was finally through taking his suit apart. He went to the next table with a War Machine suit. He spent more time going between the two tables as he built and murmured ideas to FRIDAY. It was dark when Friday informed him that Rhodey wanted to have supper. In the time before- actually on the bad days in the time now too- Tony would have made excuses and gone on working but he stopped and rubbed his hands and face on two greasy removing rags. He washed his hands with soap and changed into a shirt he was sort of sure was clean.

"How was your day around normal people?" He said in greeting as he got close enough to the dining table.

Rhodey swallowed the last of whatever was in his mug and slid over his tablet. "Helen called. We were very productive."

Tony quickly read over. The idea Rhodey had was to make a microchip that could act as a bridge between the remaining nerves in his spines and the prosthetic so it could work just like his legs. It wasn't a new idea but whatever they were about to do would be better than anything else out. No noticeable delay in movement, plus Tony was sure he saw Rhodey working on eliminating pain and maybe regenerating the dead cells using his own stem cells so he could use his legs again without the prosthetic. Helen was going to help with the nerves and Tony would be making the chip. Rhodey was handling everything else. Tony was supposed to start working after Helen was done examining Rhodey's spine with nanobots.

"Almost at the finish line," Tony said handing the tablet back.

"Hardly. Still a long way to go."

"You should sell it, the whole setup. As far as I can tell it'll be years ahead of everyone."

"To you?" Rhodey raised an eyebrow with a smile.

"No, you make a company of your own and you sell it."

"That's crazy, Tones."

"Why?" Rhodey kept quiet and Tony leaned down a little to see his eyes and they were glazed over. "I mean, it won't be Stark Industries."

Rhodey huffed a laugh. "Asshole."

"But you'd change lives, a lot of them."

"Yeah," Rhodey replied absentmindedly.

"Think about it. In the meantime, when is Vision leaving for Geneva?"

"I don't know but... I don't like some of the things- I don't like how they react to him. The things that they say. Just because he's not human doesn't mean he can't feel anything. Why is that so hard to understand?"

"Hazards of the job," Tony shrugged.

Rhodey shook his head. "You and me, we can handle it. We've _been_ handling it but he is like a year old."

Tony sighed. "I can't do it, you can't do it-"

"I can," Rhodey interrupted.

"It would take you away from the good work you're going here. Once I get cleared, I'll take over and Vision won't have meet any slimy politicians again."

"Fine. Anything you want to talk about?"

Tony was not in the habit of talking about something he was going to do but things were so slow these days that he blurted out, "Working on the next gen War Machines."

"Machines?" Rhodey sat up straighter, eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Yeah. Two is better than one, right?" Tony told him with a small smug smile.

"What are we talking about here, more firepower, different colour? What?"

"You'll find out when it's time to test it."

"Holy shit that big of a deal? What else?"

"Not saying a word," Tony mimicked a zipping motions.

"Do I have a nuclear option in that or what?"

"Not one word."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave reviews.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning for gore and panic attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to proofread this as much as possible but I'm very tired so there will be mistakes.

Of course this streak of good days Tony was on had to come to an end. He went to sleep with a full stomach and sides hurting from laughter. It was almost like he and Rhodey were back in MIT together, far from Howard, happy and wild. Back before Afghanistan, Tony had looked forward to the day Rhodey would spend all his time with him in Malibu. He knew it would be great and it was in a way Tony never anticipated. He assumed they would be sixty, deposited in a care home by Tony's ungrateful son to keep them away from trouble. When he closed his eyes, he knew there would be a nightmare waiting for him and he almost couldn't care enough to dread it. 

He saw Steve in the Siberian bunker with Barnes. They were tense and speaking loudly but he couldn't make the words. He never could. Tony walked closer to them. He could run, make them notice him, attack them. There was this feeling like he could control the dream but it was misleading. He always saw it to the end. Tony walked until he could see past Steve's broad shoulders. Howard was kneeling, cradling his bloody head. Behind him laid his mother's broken body. Tony never got there in time to see her die but the nightmare made sure he won't escape Howard's death. Barnes snarled and hit Howard again and again but Howard won’t go down. He got up every time, holding his head and staring at Tony the entire time. At some point, Steve grabbed Howard by his arms and Barnes went at it until Howard's skull burst apart down his screaming mouth.

This time Tony didn't shudder awake gasping for air. He grew cold, so cold it no longer felt like a nightmare. Then he was on a rock on a jagged plain. It felt as if the sun was closer. When he looked up, there was no sky but coal black space ships so large, Tony couldn't tell where they ended. They were raining fire down everywhere but where Tony stood with a heat so unbearable Tony's fingers clawed his skin just to stop the pain. There were shrieks so sharp, they dug into his ear like hot knives but Tony could see no one in the light of the inferno. He ran without looking, heart hammering and sweat pouring until he couldn't open his eyes.

"Tony." Tony wiped his eyes and opened them. It was Rhodey, who was half under a wrecked bridge. Tony tried to pull him out but Rhodey was too heavy and slippery and he was moaning in agony the whole time. Tony was nauseous, incoherently babbling and he felt something wrap around his ankle dragging him away. "Tony. Save me." Rhodey gasped.

Tony was suddenly in a jungle and Rhodey was gone. His stomach dragged on sharp rocks but there was soft undergrowth under his arms. He could hear heavy breathing all around but the thing holding his ankle made no sound. Tony strained to see it, shifting, pulling away, opening his mouth to speak but no words came out. They stopped in front of a panther, thin and in the middle of a pounce. It landed on his back and tore into it. Tony screamed and shook and crawled with it on his back. He felt its nail digging and digging until it came out of his stomach. Its teeth chewing on his spine. 

"Tony."

"Help. Please. Help."

"Why did you let me die?"

Suddenly Tony was standing in front of a black man who was bleeding everywhere but the head. Tony gasped, falling to his knees on pebbles. When he looked up, the light was gone, the ships were overhead and the jungle was burning.

"You signed our death warrant, Tony Stark." Tony could only breathe hard. He still felt the panther grunting, burrowing into his flesh.

"You let us die." The space ship boomed and a thousand trees broke and fell. The man raised an accusing finger. Tony sobbed. 

"I tried to warn- no one listened. No one listened. Please."

"You let us die!" The man screamed and he kicked Tony in the chest, splitting the sternum, sinking in, breaking the ribs apart until he disappeared. Tony fell back and he could see the cosmos all around him, sucking the air out of his chest. A colossal cloud of fire exploded in the distance. He landed back in the plains. Natasha was levitating in front of him, her skin was bubbling and falling off in charred pieces onto his face. Clint was crawling towards him without arms and frothing at the mouth and venom in his eyes. Tony backed away fast, sweating profusely, his hands plucking his feverish skin.

There was another boom. From a mirage emerged Wanda. She was wailing and cradling Vision, rocking him gently. His Gem was gone and he looked so small. Wanda looked up at Tony. Her face was dry and her eyes were glowing red.

"You know what to do."

Tony woke up. He scrambled out of the bed, falling on the ground. Drool coated his beard and he could feel bile raising faster than he was moving. He vomited on the bathroom door. 

"Boss, are you alright? Your heartbeat rate is too high. Do I alert Rhodey?"

"Call the lawyers. Call PR. Call everyone I have on the Accords. Call-"

"But Boss-"

"Call them!" Tony screamed. The vomit was spreading, it was already under his hands. Tony couldn't find it in himself to move away. He was so dizzy and there wasn't enough air around him. "Get me someone!"

"Jason Finn," Friday announced after indeterminate time later. 

"Jesus Tony, do you have any idea what time it is?" Jason Finn said yawning. "Did something happen? Tony? Tony, what's going on? Tony? Are you crying? Do I call an ambulance?"

"Jason," Tony managed. "I need you." He stopped, running out of energy.

"OK. What do you need? Tony, you're freaking me out."

"Faster. Bring them." 

"Them? Faster? Fast-" A paused. "Tony, they're fugitives." Jason said. The world will end, why don't they understand? They're going die, no one was listening to him but it's his fault. It's his fault this was happening.

"Jason. Jason." Tony's stomach hurt but he was trying to gulp in as much air as he can. His eyes were so blurry and it was so hot. He should move, get closer to the window but his body wasn't obeying him.

"Alright, alright. Just go to the hospital. We'll talk afterwards. Tell me where you are. The Tower?

"Boss, let me get someone." Tony tried telling her stop but he needed his mouth to breathe. "Vision is coming, Boss."

"Tony? Are you still there? Tony if you die I swear I'm quitting. Say something."

A cool voice spoke up. "End the call, Friday."

"Hey! Who's there-"

The bathroom door opened. Then he was lifted off the ground into the cool air. Tony shivered. He was carried to the sink. When the water touched his skin, his teeth chattered. Frost grew on the mirror until his blurred image couldn't be seen and he could smell metal all around him and hear clangs echoing around him. His chest was aching and it caving in and he turned his head to see Steve with his shield raised.

"You signed-"

Steve disappeared and Tony was back in his bathroom. His head was resting on Vision's neck. He could feel Vision's hand buried into his hair and vague thrumming noise pulsed inside his head. Tony was breathing fine and was increasingly embarrassed.

"Tones."

Tony jerked up, eyes wide at Rhodey who rolled his wheel chair over the puddle of sick. The wheel went from black to a sickly yellow and yet Rhodey didn't even look the least bit disgusted. 

"What happened?"

"Something I ate."

"Boss had a nightmare."

"FRI!" 

"Was it always like this Friday?" Rhodey asked. His face was lined with worry.

"No."

"I'm right here. Look," Tony disentangled himself from Vision hesitantly because he knew it was Vision who made the horror go away, "let's all pretend this never happened. I'll clean this mess and your wheelchair and your," he noticed Vision's cape was also coated, "that."

"Tony."

"Everything is fine," Tony said cheerfully. He gaggled on water and dried himself on a towel. Vision's cape was gone. Tony wondered if he'd make a new one or he was cleaning the soiled one somehow. What was it made up of? Did he take a bit of the synthetic part of his inner body to make it? 

"We can't just ignore it." Rhodey spat. "You didn't see yourself right then. You were completely out of it. You need... help."

"I'm not doing therapy, honeycomb. OK? So let's drop it."

Rhodey's voice got sad and thin. "You can't keep living like this. You need to see someone."

"Speak for yourself. I mean, you haven't gone to a shrink either so clearly you-"

Rhodey frowned baffled. "Actually, I have. It's a requirement in the Accords. Post injury."

"What? No, I'd know." Tony took a moment. "Why don't I know this? Are you colluding against-?"

"Colluding?" Rhodey raised his voice. "Do you hear yourself? It's therapy not-"

"So you did keep this from me?"

"I assumed that you read the Accords inside and out," Rhodey answered coldly. Tony did but it was possible he missed it or ignored it because of Rhodey and what he did to him. "We're not trying to hurt you damn it. How many years of this, Tony? When are you going to trust us?"

"I trust you. A lot. Drop. It."

"No," Rhodey said forcefully. "No, man. You looked like death. You looked like you were dying. I'm tired of you acting like there's something normal about that."

"I agree. To a level which is why I found a solution that works for me."

"It's failing." 

"Does your therapy guarantee a complete nightmare free experience?" Rhodey kept silent. "This is the best thing I ever did. I promise it's not harmful. Besides, today was a freak accident type of situation. It's fine now. I'm fine now. Are you fine? You're frowning. Stop frowning. I'm doing great now. Viz, tell him how great I'm doing. It's really great."

"I think you should sleep," Vision said finally.

"No, no, no. No sleep. It's..."

"Midnight." Friday supplied.

"Ah midnight. Early bird. I love worms. Yum yum yum." Rhodey's mouth twitched. "What's the agenda today?"

"Avenger recruitment." Friday answered.

Tony nodded. "Great. We can start with South Korea."

Rhodey was smirking. Why was he smirking? "Friday? Move recruitment to tomorrow."

Tony's heart jumped. They needed to do it today. They needed to be faster. He tried to remember why but the dream was already hazy. "What are you doing?"

"I'm in charge of that, remember? I get to decide when it happens and when it doesn't. For example, it's not happening now."

Vision spoke carefully. "You need to rest, Tony." Tony shook his head. "Your dreams will be easier." Tony opened his mouth. "No, I have not altered your mind."

"Just sleep, at least. Please." 

Tony was about to argue some more but then he agreed. Rhodey relaxed instantly. Tony could feel a spike of guilt in his mind. He just couldn't help but fuck up, could he? Vision watched him with something akin to suspicion. Tony gamely jumped over the vomit, changed his clothes, dutifully laughed as Vision carried a protesting Rhodey and went to another room. He didn't expect Vision and Rhodey to stay with him under he was under the covers.

"Ok. Sleeping now. Good night, everyone." He closed his eyes and waited.

"Yeah, you must think I was born yesterday. Viz, put me on the bed with Tony."

Tony sat up. "Why, Mr. Rhodes, you must exercise some control over yourself." Tony said in a scandalised tone. He lifted the cover until his chest was covered.

"Only one of us grabbed the other's dick in their sleep," Rhodey air quoted the word sleep, "and it ain't me."

Vision shot him a disappointed look. Luckily, Tony's mortification had long worn out over that. He swooned. "I couldn't help myself. You're so handsome."

Vision walked around the bed and put Rhodey down gently. He straightened and eyed them. "I might not know many people but I know enough to tell you two are odd."

"Thirty years of work!" Rhodey declared and he high fived Tony. It was as if they didn't even have a tense situation just five minutes before.

"You can join us," Tony said as he scooted. 

"I don't need it," Vision said. Tony was too tired to read into his expression so he patted the bed and fluffed the pillow. Vision's clothes melted away and then he formed clothes similar to Rhodey's. He got into the bed and lied ramrod straight. Despite Tony's attempts to fight off any sleep, he was out in a minute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave comments please.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go downhill fast.

Amending the Accords like he promised was laborious. It was only a few months after he signed and Tony isn't dumb enough to think things will iron out quickly but they were going at a rate of a few sentences at a time. Too many countries and contentious issues. It's not like Tony had the power to will it all into order. Basically it felt like he was losing and there have been moments that Tony wished he ran off with Rogers and his merry band of assholes. 

Speaking of whom, their latest fight against the ever reliable HYDRA led to an explosion in a nearby steel factory in Venezuela. Before Tony was fully awake, he was fielding calls from all over. Of course once he was done with the Secretary of Defense freaking out because they can't track the former Avengers again, he had to deal with the Minister of Defense for Venezuela. After he was finally through explaining why he didn't yet know the reason for the attack, Tony managed to get permission to send his team of investigators to gather evidence which he did promptly. He went through his missed call list and called the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"I promise I am working as fast as I can, Minister," Tony said for what felt like the hundredth time. He waited for FRIDAY to translate the angry reply he got before he snapped, he was already exhausted and it was only eight. "Need I remind you that they have some of the best spies in their ranks and that I was asked by the Council to deactivate the weaponry I had given them? Once they dumped the garbage they couldn't use anymore, I have no way of tracking them fast enough to stop them before they destroy a part of your country!"

"The Minister asks why you didn't warn the Council of this happening." 

"Because," Tony said through gritted teeth, "not disarming them would have made me complicit in their actions. The Accords state clearly I _can't_ aid them. I tracked them as best as I could but I'm relying on satellites because I can't hack into camera feeds in foreign nations seeing as they would mean I am _violating_ the Accords because it's _official Avengers business_. Also, very _frustratingly_ , even if I could, it takes time and they move fast. We will always be behind them... unless of course you help fix this into the Accords."

A short while later, FRIDAY said, "The Minister agrees that the legislature didn't properly predict the rogue former members of your team. He will of course support you in doing what you need. He is now asking who would pay for the damages."

Who else but the same guy who has been doing that for years? "I'll be happy to foot the bill. In the meanwhile I think an official statement only would suffice, don't you think? I'll send over the payment plan." There was stilted goodbyes. At the rate things were going, Tony would need to hit up other billionaires. One of his phones started to ring.

"Hello, Tony Stark speaking."

"Stark, I hope I am not interrupting what must be a busy morning for you."

"Secretary Ross," Tony said. He had been tempted to ignore Ross but the circumstances meant that it would cause more problems than Tony wanted to deal with.

"It's times like this that remind me that we often create our monsters."

"I have no idea what you mean," Tony replied. Tony's two other phones vibrated at the same time. One from Rhodey asking for an update and the other was from Pepper updating him on the stocks, which weren't doing too good since the mess with his identity.

"These people don't care about you, Stark. It doesn't take a genius to see the only person losing here is you."

Tony grimaced. It wasn't like he didn't know. Still he felt something in his chest like a physical blow without the pain. "I'm actually doing _great_ -"

"Whatever the hell it is that you're doing to help them, it's going to come back and bite you in the ass and you'll be alone dealing with it."

"I'm not helping them. I don't know how many times I have to repeat it." Tony said he replied to both messages. "I have chosen my path and they chose theirs. I have washed my hands clean off them." 

There was quiet on the other end. "That's good to hear, Stark."

"As wonderful it is to talk you Mr. Secretary, I am a very busy man."

"Of course, of course. Go on fixing their mistakes. Well, until next time." 

Tony took a minute to wait out the panic and roiling in his stomach. "FRIDAY a secure line to my contact in Langley."

"Tony," said a distorted voice when the call connected. Borgart Jeffries was once an agent the CIA sent to spy on Tony. Thankfully the man was jaded by the spy business so when Tony caught him and offered him money in exchange for being his eyes and ears when he needed it, he gladly accepted.

"You got anything?"

"Yeah, some of the HYDRA agents took their time dying and apparently they were making parts for a weapon for one of the heads."

"So we have an energy source with dubious origins in Namibia and now parts. At least we can safely say the Black Widow's joined the rogue team unless...." T’Challa was providing all the intel. "Send me the audio... and whatever dirt you have on the entire Venezuelan Cabinet."

"Sure thing, boss."

Rhodey was next. 

"Guess who just snuck into a third world country for a night of violence?"

"Does it start with 'Be' and end with 'trayers?'"

"Two for two? Ok, guess who's catching all the flak?"

Rhodey inhaled. "Us."

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner. You are stunningly good at this."

"Are you OK?"

Tony rubbed his eyes. "At this point I can predict when they'll fuck up everything by how good of a week I'm having."

"I wish I could help with this."

"I know," Tony sighed.

"We have the South Korean team at least." 

Tony was relieved. "You are the best. I have to go clean up some more."

Laurel Morison, head of Tony's team of lawyers, got in contact just as Tony finished brewing a strong cup of coffee.

"Good news or bad news first?" She asked in lieu of greeting.

"Bad first so I can leave one conversation without the taste of something nasty in my mouth."

"Well, this has convinced some more countries that the world doesn't really need the Avengers," Laurel replied. "China's been pushing for a complete ban even harder than before unless you deliver Rogers' body. Word is, all will be forgiven if you provide weapons-"

"Out of question."

Laurel sucked in air. Tony could hear papers rustling and people murmuring. "Not that I thought you would. T'challa's making some moves with the Council. I can't say for sure but it seems to be targeted at the more hard lining members."

Tony already knew that from his moles. It was the first call he had taken. "Good. Let him do his thing. Anything else?"

"Good thing is we'll probably detangle you from Iron Man in most places. We still need to negotiate. I don't want to keep reminding you that they want more from you than just weapons."

"Yeah I do," Tony replied. "You know most of that is going to be weaponised against people who can't defend themselves."

"Tony," Laurel began.

"I can't live with that."

Laurel was exasperated. "I'm assuming you're still going ahead with the plan you won't share with me."

"Yeah."

"Tony," Laurel said with meaning and then a door opened and closed on her end and it was quiet enough that he could hear a fan in the background. "Don't do this to yourself for those people. You know damn well if the situation was reversed they wouldn't spend half the effort."

"It's not about me. There's-" Tony stopped though he doesn't know if it's because he is tired of being treated like he was overreacting or because Laurel didn't need know that things are going to get worse for Earth. "Trust me and please do what I need you to do."

"Alright," Laurel said and he can just see her pinching her the bridge of her nose. "I'll keep you updated. Take care of yourself."

"You too."

Tony moved to the other side of his lab to the wall of monitors. FRIDAY without prompting opened the video of the fight caught on one of his satellites. Tony had all his private ones monitoring the world in case something happened for many years though he could have never predicted he would be using against people he fought with. The whole thing happened under the cover of night so he would rely on heat vision mostly. She also zoomed in enough for Tony make out the dots. Rogers’s team entered a building marked 'Ciudad Guayana Police Station', seconds later two bodies are thrown out of a window and there was seconds of inactivity except for red fire briefly firing through another window. 

"FRIDAY pull up city plans," One of the monitors at the bottom blinked into a blueprint of the entire town. Just as he thought, the sewer system passed under the station although it was larger than it should have been. He went back to watching. The screens shifted so that the steel factory which was on the upper left side was now in the middle. What looked like three groups ran out of two small buildings to the right, then an orange explosion came from one of the buildings. Wanda. So Rogers brought the muscle, brains and magic. Good.

The Rogue Avengers easily dealt with the two groups. Pausing long enough for Wanda to drill a hole into the earth that they disappeared to. Tony stop the video knowing that he'll know what happened inside in the next few hours. He skipped ahead to the part where they escaped. FRIDAY located them on the roof of the factory where they ran and disappeared into thin air. So, they were using T'challa's planes. Maybe they had his approval but the new King of Wakanda would rather they were subtle Tony would think. Otherwise people would start to connect dots. 

"FRIDAY? Call the number I gave you."

"Are you sure, boss?"

"No but this has gone on long enough. I can't avoid him any longer, not if I want this resolved in time. Go ahead. Speaker, please." He added after imagining Roger's voice loud in his ear. That wasn't something Tony was prepared to handle.

"Stark." 

Only it wasn't Steve Roger's voice coming from above.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long. I have next few chapters outlined so they should come soon. The lighthearted tone- ish is going to change as a result of what happened in this chapter. I chose Venezuela because the country is currently facing sanctions from the United States so I imagine a mostly American team destroying a factory would sting.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait.

Tony barely gave himself time to react before speaking the name. "Sam Wilson."

"Stark."

"You know when Rogers gave me the phone and number, I was under the impression that I would get him when I called him."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Sam bit out. Tony furrowed his brow. He knew Sam didn't have the highest opinion of him but he sounded so disgusted that Tony fought the urge to end the call right there and then.

"Let's not waste any time bickering especially since I don't have time to waste. You just fucked up the first Accords approved mission."

"Really?" Sam said sounding genuinely skeptical.

"A Hydra super weapon was being assembled and you thought the Council was going to sit on their ass? C'mon, Wilson."

"So you want to try and play me like I'm some idiot?" 

Tony laughed a little, still confused by the hostility. "I'm not trying to 'play you', Sam."

"Well, you can't, either way. We have eyes and ears on a lot of places and I know for a fact that you're lying."

"Is that so?" Tony made sure to sound both smug and like he was distracted by something.

"Yeah dipshit, that is very much so."

Tony kept the same tone but spoke faster and rustled paper and pressed keyboard. "Dipshit? Samuel, you wound me. Here I am warning you ahead of time that you're about to screw yourselves even harder than-"

"I just told you that we've got access to the Council's meetings. I know you're lying to me. Again."

Tony decided to throw caution to the wind. "Kitty cats are after all fickle and those sensitive ears..."

"More spider than cat," Sam shot back. Then he cursed softly.

Tony stopped and grinned triumphantly. He wanted to end the call but paused when he replayed what was said.

"When did I lie to you?"

"Besides now? When you promised me you'd go as a friend. Now I don't exactly understand what goes on in your mind but blowing someone's arm off isn't considered friendly behavior by most people."

"He didn't tell you, did he?" Tony said quietly.

"Who?"

"Rogers. He didn't tell you what happened."

"He did," Sam ground out.

Tony took a few seconds to wonder if he could live with someone who hated him knowing the truth. Then he decided that as long as the rogues fell apart, he'll live with it.

"James Buchanan Barnes was a Hydra agent-"

"He was brainwashed-"

"-sent to kill my parents."

"and you know- what?"

"I watched the video of it happening. He beat my father to death and he," Tony voice shook as he continued, "strangled my mother."

When Sam spoke again, he sounded cautious. "I'm not trying to imply anything but if they were murdered, you'd know."

"Unless there was a large clandestine organisation that didn't want me know."

"Damn.... I don't like you, Stark, but you don't deserve-"

"Steve knew. He knew what Barnes had done for years and he didn't say anything.... I gave him money and technology to look for my parents' murderer. I had my R & D people look into super serums and brainwashing. Shit I even had Helen look into re-growing amputated limbs. All for the guy who choked my mother to death. I went there as a friend, Sam. I was the only one."

"Stark."

Tony straightened up. "Thank you, Sam. I'll call when the need arises."

Friday cut the call just as Sam took in a noisy breath. Tony's whole body relaxed. What seemed like an almost impossible task was now very much possible. He had confirmation that T'Challa wasn't their spy and that he might not approve of their escapades. Natasha was fiercely smart but Tony had known her for longer than many. Without SHIELD and with the world breathing down her neck, there were only so many contacts left. 

"FRIDAY, tell Borgart I want a list of KGB and Red Room agents that are still alive. Then send a message to the Wakandan embassy. Tell them I want to have a talk with the King."

Tony had been very careful about limiting his contact with T'Challa just so that when they finally meet, it's understood that something big was going down. Somehow, though, the most difficult thing he had to do was pick up one of his phones, the most recent Stark phone in the market, made just for him with the best security possible, and make two calls.

"Tony Stark." A rather breathy voice answered.

"Hey, Smith."

"What can I do for you, my friend?"

"I was thinking more what _I_ can do for you."

"Tony," the man said amused. "You don't-"

"You're the Attorney General and truth be told, I don't know half of what you do. What I do know is that you're damn good at your job. I'd hate to see you go because of a few mistakes."

The man audibly shifted and spoke in a whisper. "Tony, listen. I don't-"

"Relax, I'm here as a friend. We have disagreements and some of the more recent ones have been annoying-"

Smith started speaking faster, panicking sipping into his voice. "Rogers made his choices. You've tried to talk him out of it. I have tried. The damn President has tried. He's a criminal- an international one- driven by political ideals. That is the definition of a terrorist. People all way in Africa know this. I can't. I have no choice I told you-"

"And I told you that I understand. Now stop interrupting me and listen." Tony cleared his throat. "There's some evidence out there that you've been taking special _interest_ in special taxing districts which is smart, I got to hand it to you. The average Joe doesn't know much about them. The real problem is the get-togethers you have at your house with-"

"Tony, please."

Tony continued like Smith hadn't spoken. "A dozen or so men with a lot of money."

Smith sighed in defeat. "Gambling is not-"

"Illegal, I know but taking taxes for your own-"

"I was going to return- it wasn't even much."

"Colven will make it seem like millions. This is why I called. I'm offering to help."

"How? In exchange for?" Smith asked sounding more like a professional than a boy.

"There's a tape out there of the Senator in a compromising position."

"Campaign staff?" Smith asked sounding delighted.

"Worse. Much worse. Think about it. Contact me when you come to a decision."

The call ended before Smith could say anything.

"Sir, your heart rate is picking up."

"I'm not too happy about what I'm about to do but let's rip this bandage off." The next call was answered on the third ring.

"Tony Stark, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Senator Colven answered.

"Can't a donor call a donee to see how the campaign is going?"

"A donor can but you've been silent for months."

Tony sat down on the cold floor before speaking again. "I just thought I'd call and remind you that you have me in your corner."

"You and millions. Like I said, people don't become more important to me because they give more-"

"Cut the bullshit," Tony spat out. "I need you to keep your end of the deal. I've been hearing some things about you and the Accords."

"My position has not changed, Stark. I'm just being a bit more diplomatic," Colven replied coldly. "Now just because you've donated does not mean that you own me."

Tony spoke calmly, "I'm not going to threaten you. I'm not going to remind you that I'm one of the wealthiest men in the world. One of the smartest, too. That I make weapons that other people can dream of. I won't because I know you and I are on the same side.”

"Exactly," Colven replied with such fake warmth. "You and I have similar goals. You help me achieve mine, I help you achieve yours. You put me in the White House and I will have the Accords struck down as unconstitutional. If I can't, I'll issue official pardons."

"Good. Glad we're on the same page. Though, I've heard something else that’s disturbing."

Colven was much better at hiding his anxiety than Smith. Might have something to do with growing up in a Republican dynasty.

"What is it?"

"Johnson's side got ahold of a certain tape."

"A tape? Of what nature?"

That was interesting. So there was more dirt out there than Tony has managed to find. Well, he still had time.

"Of the sexual nature. Not very family friendly. Anti-Christian even."

"And they definitely have this tape?"

"They do but I have something on them. I'll send it over."

"Stark, I don't think-"

"It's embezzlement of federal funds. We can add blackmail to the mix too."

Colven whistled. "Federal funds," he said enunciating the words carefully.

"Very illegal," Tony supplied helpfully.

The senator hummed in agreement. "Give me a few days to try and take care of this. If I need your help...."

"You'll get it," Tony promised. He wasn't committing to anything completely but he couldn't have Colven doubting his support.

Tony got off the phone feeling dirty. Rhodey did not know about any of this. He'd probably kick Tony’s ass if he did, paralyzed or not. Tony hopes that one day, if they both survive Thanos, it would be worth it. Besides, Tony had enough time to plan an impeachment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not American and the political system is different from mine but I hope I haven't made too many mistakes.
> 
> I actually took a long time to post this chapter partly because of the research needed and Tony's actions. I was considering writing a different chapter instead until I watched Infinity War. Still I wanted to show Tony being good at politics (I promise you'll see the pay off) and what that actually means in today's world. I also wanted him to have more agency outside of his suit after Civil War since he spends more time being Iron Man than Tony Stark imo. Plus his duties, his power, his influence, etc.
> 
> Tell me what you think.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beware the fake science

CHAPTER 6

It had been Rhodey's idea to make multiple Avenger teams to both deal with the rising enhanced population and prepare for any major attack. He thought of it as replacing the rogue team members, Tony thought of it as increasing defenses. Tony, as a result, has kept space open in North America while Rhodey worried about the rest of the world. Things were slowly but surely coming together well. After the South Korean team, the Japanese and Indian team were forming under the strict observation of their respective governments.

"Sometimes we can only take about two steps, which is my way of saying we go through a ton of paper work and choose names that match the _country's sprits_ ," Rhodey told him when Tony finally left the lab, "and sometimes we're sprinting," Rhodey rapped his wheelchair with his knuckles, "which is my way of saying that I wake up and find fifteen changes made without getting a warning."

"I kinda wish Fury had figured everything out before we became Iron Man and Patriot."

"War Machine," Rhodey corrected without missing a beat. "And that would have been tainted by Hydra."

"Not if it was Fury's pet project, and if the SHIELD files I've been looking through are true, then the Avengers was something very few people knew about."

"Speaking of SHIELD, how's your little side project going?"

Tony grinned apologetically. "Well, I never really laid claim to it-"

"Tony," Rhodey began warningly.

"-and I always found your natural instinct at organising arousing," Tony paused as Rhodey groaned, "so I did the boring bits where I separated the wheat from the chaff and you have fifty of Stark Industries’ private security staff at your disposal."

"You're trying to turn me into Fury," Rhodey said narrowing his eyes. "You saw the first black man-"

"Oh c'mon," Tony replied trying not to laugh.

"I'm onto you Stark. I see what you're doing."

"You're not saying no," Tony pointed out.

"I won't. Fifty spies under my command?" Rhodey whistled. "My post-combat days aren't looking too bad, are they? Not that I've given up on War Machine but this thing with the Avengers and former SHIELD spies, it might end up doing a lot of good."

"It's what I'm hoping," Tony told him softly.

"God, look at us. We're aging-"

"Speak for yourself," Tony said for the sake of it.

"We're half a century old, man. That's old to anyone. Also don't interrupt me when I'm about to say something meaningful."

"My apologies, sweet potato. Continue."

Rhodey rolled his eyes, letting them settle on the floor. "I don't know. I kind of feeling like we're just getting started."

Tony grimaced a little. "We should be gearing up for retirement and let the kids take over."

"I'm never retiring," Rhodey declared. "I'm going to die doing my job."

"Oh, so now I've got to add tricking you into retiring on my to-do list."

"You can't trick me. I've known you too long. For example, what was that you said about finding a solution to your anxiety thing?"

"When?"

"The last time you almost gave me a heart attack? A few days ago? There was vomit and manly bonding all over the place?"

"I just don't remember, it's the funniest thing."

Rhodey just smiled at him and said, "Which is why I made you an appointment with a therapist. I figured since it is a problem you have trouble dealing with, I can help you get some help. FRIDAY will send you the details."

"Hey, you can't-"

"Oh and Stephen Strange is coming in three days."

"I'm not going," Tony said crossing his arms.

"You will."

"If I don't?"

"I'm not going to threaten you, Tony. Tell you what, you show up and I'll give retirement a try. I'll even start looking for a replacement."

"For what?"

"The new SHIELD you're trying to make me lead because you think I'm indistinguishable from Nick Fury."

Tony groaned and threw his hands in the air. "Dude, you're really - we have a change in our dynamic that I just do not like."

"You know what will help you adjust?"

"What?"

"Therapy."

"I walked into that one. I walked into it."

"'Walked'?"

"What do you want me to say? Rolled?"

"You're offending me on so many levels today," Rhodey tsk-tsked. "I'm going to _roll_ away because I have a lot of work to do but people will hear about this."

"FRIDAY," Tony spoke after a few minutes of silence, "any word from Wakanda?"

"Complete radio silence," his AI replied. Tony winced thinking that his conversation with Sam might be the reason the King was taking hours to get back. 

"The lawyers?"

"Conference call at three."

"Anything I have to do?"

"I can forward you schematics from the Medical Tech department to look over."

Tony groaned. "Sure. Why not?"

The three o'clock conference call went well. Tony had been so bored by then that he actually paid attention and gave suggestions, some of them were even helpful. The new timeline he was given was two months. Then he could leave the country as Tony Stark.

The only problem with having a company filled with the most competent people on the planet was that Tony ended up having little to do besides work on his suits and submit new inventions and designs to Pepper. His suits are going to be rebuilt again, better than ever as usual. He wished he could say that coming up with an industrial drill with fewer parts and longer lasting than the diamond types was hard but it was like breathing. He has done it for so long that it came to him without struggle. That did not mean he didn’t have a few projects that no one knew about. The issue was that these projects didn’t give him the same feeling as say making an exoskeleton for injured cats.

"FRI, pull up the Ultron code." 

Tony was inside his lab. He was holding a mug of coffee as a large, blue holographic screen winked into existence in front of him. This time, the entire lab was isolated, just in case the code came alive again. It was stupid, maybe, to obsess over it but he still remembered working steadily on the program and he knew he wasn't even past the initial stages. Rhodey had speculated, a year after Ultron when they had gone to Rhodey’s childhood home to get away for a few hours, that it might have been the Mind Gem that did it. After all, it could overwrite the human brain despite being an alien artifact, why couldn't it do the same thing to computers? Since then Tony had studied the code they had recovered from the Iron Legion. It was safer and easier than hooking Vision up to a machine (that Tony would need to invent) to study the Gem itself.

"FRI, do you see what I'm seeing?"

"It looks like a message, sir."

Tony swept most of the code from the screen and was left with a few lines.

"Do you think we can get someone who can read Old Norse?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing Tony and Rhodey together. Short chapter because the next one is long and deals with a lot of things. 
> 
> Tell me what you think


	7. Chapter 7

The message stood out like a sore thumb in the coding. It took Tony a few seconds to recognise the language, due to the fact that he had Scandinavian linguists over to help document that dozens of artefacts Thor brought with him after the Rainbow Bridge was repaired. FRIDAY contacted one of those linguists, who thankfully was in the city, for him. Immediately afterwards, she informed him that he had an incoming call from Wakanda.

"Your Highness," Tony said in greeting.

"Mr. Stark, I have received your message though I do not understand your intentions." The King was polite as Tony remembered, without any humor in his voice.

"I think the conversation we need to have is better in person instead on the phone."

"About what exactly?"

"The people you invited inside your country."

The silence that followed was thick. "Are you accusing me of something?"

"Nothing so negative. I just want you to know that I know and I think we should meet and come to an agreement."

"Mr. Stark," T’Challa said warningly. For a moment Tony thought that if it wasn't for the accent and the voice, he was speaking to his father. 

"I'm not a threat, King T’Challa, or at least I don't want to be but you have a loose cannon in your hands. People are dying when they don't need to be."

"A face to face meeting?" T’Challa asked his voice neutral again.

"Yes, this week. We don't have the luxury of time after Venezuela."

T’Challa made a few noises of sympathy. "Do you need assistance?"

Tony chose to deliberately misinterpret the King. "I can't afford your vibranium. I mean I can but I'm not allowed to until the company's stocks stabilise." 

"We don't have vibranium, Mr. Stark," T’Challa said matter-of-factly. 

"That's too bad. Listen, I have a couple of other things I want to discuss with you, in fact one of them just propped up on me, if it is possible."

"Do I need an advance warning to what this is?" The King asked. Tony hoped he was not imagining the decrease in hostility.

"It has something to do with Ultron. More specifically, what was inside of him?"

"You've been studying-"

"Learning from my mistakes," Tony said quickly not wanting to hear a potential ally refer to Ultron as Tony's creation like many people. "I found something. It might have a little to do with New York."

"After I go back to Wakanda to be crowned, I will choose a date. I'm afraid that could take a while."

Tony bit the inside of his cheek for a few seconds before speaking. "Alright, how about I come to you?"

"Inside Wakanda?"

"It doesn't have- maybe Rwanda if that'll make you more comfortable or whatever."

T’Challa was starting to sound annoyed. "Mr. Stark-"

Tony was done pleading. "Look, I knew where they were immediately. After that, I knew many other things your country doesn't want the rest of the world to know. I could have blabbed immediately and maybe if I did ten Namibians would still be alive."

"Why didn't you?" T’Challa sounded genuinely baffled.

"New York was only the beginning," Tony answered. "So, how about in two days I'll show up in a town house in Kigali and I'll ensure it's completely bug-free. You can come the next day and we can put this mess to rest."

"If this is a trap...."

"I'll come alone without the suit. Completely at your mercy."

After a beat, the King replied, "In three days then, Mr. Stark."

"Your Highness."

When the call ended, FRIDAY told him. "You don't have to follow through on that, boss."

"Wakanda tech might detect my tech. Heh. Besides it won't be smart to break promises just yet."

He went back to the closed off lab privately agreeing with FRIDAY that might have been a mistake. It was just so tiring that no one was willing to trust him unless he bared his throat for them. 

He quickly isolated and copied the section into his wrist watch. It took a split second to send this out of the large room to where FRIDAY was. Then he turned the watch off. Rationally, he knew it was unlikely that Ultron would come alive again but then again the program was birthed from the Mind Gem after he had set up the foundation for it. Tony could not risk anything. This time he could confidently say he took all precautions. Unfortunately that meant he had to manually check the rest of the coding to see if there were any messages. It took him two years to reach this point with plenty of distractions, true, but even if he remained inside the lab, it could take weeks. Tony was starting to consider putting together to team to help with this.

The Linguist, a Dr. Hudson, was already working on the decoded writing FRIDAY had given him. She had even taken care to make it look like it had been recovered from an old stone tablet. Tony quelled any dark thoughts about her growth. Ultron was a onetime event. JARVIS had shown the same creativity especially after Tony stopped fussing about every little thing.

Tony knew he was going to have a translation before nightfall so he had little reason to stray from the Tower. In one of the living rooms of the Tower, he had some Chinese from a restaurant Rhodey discovered, that seemed to have engineered the best lemon chicken he had ever taste.

It was a good thing that he ate quickly or he could have choked on his food when a portal opened up twenty feet in front of him and Stephen Strange stepped through. Tony had a moment to hope FRIDAY had caught images of the symbols surrounding the portal before he stood up.

"That was rude."

"Nice to finally meet face to face, Tony Stark."

"Are we going to ignore the heart attack I almost had?"

"Do you have some tea? Cinnamon would be preferred," Strange said as he made himself comfortable.

"I guess we are." 

Tony made hot chocolate for himself with toasted marshmallows. He ignored Strange's raised eyebrow when he went back.

"FRI, can you get Rhodey?" 

Strange held his hands up. "No need for that. I'll see him tomorrow morning."

"What?"

"I'm planning on staying the night, Stark."

"Why?"

Strange sneered. "I thought you wanted me to join the team?"

"I thought you were coming in three days," Tony retorted.

"Plans change."

"Is- did something happen?"

Strange sighed. "Couldn't you just- never mind. I'm searching for an acquaintance of mine. I thought I could use your Tower."

"Why not the Sanctum?"

"You found it?" Strange asked somehow both surprised and not surprised.

"Uh... yeah. Was it supposed to be hard? Because the electromagnetic waves that were being emitted were off the charts," Tony explained. "Seriously, we had to make new charts."

"Well-"

"Also there were carving on the building that looked like they could be yours. Are those important? Do you need them? Are you going to carve up my Tower? I'd _prefer_ it if you don't."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to, for security and other things," Strange said looking the opposite of afraid. A blink later he had a cup of steaming liquid in his hands. Okay, that was annoying but cool. Strange grinned and Tony decided on annoyed. 

Tony was huffing before he could stop himself. "Tonight?"

"Yes," he answered. Then he decided to be nice by saying, "Just some basic security wards. No one knows where I am yet."

"Fine. FRI, show Dr. Strange his floor."

Strange left with his cup the normal way though Tony could not pretend the portals were exciting. Hopefully, he'll collect enough information to replicate them.

"Boss," FRIDAY said an hour later when Hudson had finished. Tony took the elevator back to see him.

"It's Asgardian," the man said, his voice squeaking when Tony brushed past him to stare at the large monitor where the text he discovered was below some of the texts Thor provided.

"I figured. What does it mean?"

Hudson pressed his finger on the screen and as he read, his finger moved along. Tony was glad he could not see any of the smears.

"It says, 'The Time Gem is on Midgard.'"

"Any specific place?"

"No, though it doesn't look like a complete sentence." Hudson hurriedly drew in a breath before continuing, "Asgardian sentence structure-"

"Yes, yes," Tony said impatiently. He knew he was being rude but it was like his whole world narrowed down to those words. "I remember what you told me the last time. I'd like it if you remained in the Tower a while."

"Oh," the man said, "I'd love to. I just have a few appointments that I need to...."

"Don't worry about that. You'll have your own driver-"

"In other cities. Not, um, just in New York."

"I have planes," Tony said. "Why do you... rest up in the thirtieth floor? Is that available, FRI?"

"It is."

"OK, good. I'll send someone over to see what you need, and I'll have some more of this," Tony pointed at the screen, "for you." Hopefully.

Hudson stammered his thanks as Tony guided him to the elevators. As soon as he was gone, Tony went to the bathroom.

"I'm going to pull an all-nighter, see if I can find the rest of that sentence at the very least. If anyone needs anything, you can... use a Roomba or whatever to get my attention. The lab remains offline even if-"

"There's an attack. I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the plot is starting to kick in. tony has had a major day. yes, the past few chapters have been one day. there'll be more rhodey don't worry especially since his arc is about to really kick off. also this fic, doctor strange 2, black panther and spiderman: homecoming are all happening at the same time which means a lot of chaos and character development to work through. 
> 
> tell me what you. there's only been a handful of comments in the last three chapters. comments are really motivating.


	8. Chapter 8

Tony left the lab in the early morning, stretching his back to try and get rid of the ache between his shoulder blades from hunching for a long time. This time he wrote down the codes for FRIDAY to translate before presenting it to Hudson. It was about two lines long with hopefully the ending of the first sentence he found. Tony's eyes were dry, it hurt when he closed them and he could not stand the sunlight streaming in through his windows. 

"Dim the light or something," he said as he went to his bathroom to take a shower. The windows became grey until he could look at them without squinting. The shower made him feel awake enough that he felt he could deal with Strange.

"Is Stephen Strange on his floor?"

"I don't know," FRIDAY answered.

"Wait, what? What do you mean you don't know?"

"I have been disconnected from the floor since twenty-three hundred yesterday."

"And you said nothing?"

"I was only allowed to contact in case of an attack. That is not an attack. I think."

"Dammit. Now I can't be mad at you." He didn't like being angry with any of his creations so he focused his anger on Strange. "Is the elevator working?"

A few seconds later the A.I replied, "It is."

Tony tried to reign in his temper but it was one thing to cut into his walls and sacrifice a chicken or whatever it was that wizards did but to interfere with his A.I was many steps too far. The elevator opened to Strange with his hands behind his back, wearing the most benign expression imaginable. 

"Your hocus pocus nonsense," Tony said gesturing at the vase of incense and Strange's twitching cloak, "on my security system is absolutely bogus!" 

"Forgive my need for privacy."

"Privacy? No one is spying on you. This is my tower and everyone needs to run by me before they-"

"I tried. You were unavailable."

Tony ground his teeth hard. "Fine. Undo it."

Strange sighed like he stepped on a pile of wet tissue. "Stark, I need to perform my duties as Sorcerer Supreme without-"

"Trust me beyond making sure you're here, alive and not trying to kill me-"

"Why would I kill you?"

"Plenty of people have tried." Even ones I trusted, Tony finished in his head. "I'm not watching you or anything. I'd feel much safer if you undo what you did."

Strange considered it for a few seconds before agreeing. Then after a few more seconds Tony gestured him to get it over with.

"Oh. No. It will take some time. Your A.I is very complex."

Tony's heart stopped beating for a moment. "Did you do something to her because I swear if you did-"

"No. Nothing damaging."

Tony clenched his fist. FRIDAY could not die like Jarvis did, he won't allow it. Remembering Jarvis suddenly triggered the memory of the cold, dead space he was floating on, the only person alive to look at the destruction Thanos brought to Earth. That was all Tony needed to force himself to relax and ignore the nausea building within him. Strange was looking at him with a peculiar expression.

"Are you fine? It's just that I felt something there...."

"Are you reading my mind?" Tony snapped.

"No," Strange said slowly. "I sensed something on you, not in you."

"Uh?"

"Probably nothing," Strange said almost convincingly. "I'm going to assume breakfast is being served."

"I guess. I can go get started and you can get your magical claws out of my girl."

"Your girl. Right." Strange looked like he was realising something. When Tony next saw his hands, before the elevator closed, there were orange projections pointed at him. He held in his outrage until he was in Rhodey's kitchen.

"What's up?"

Tony, in between chugging a glass of OJ that Rhodey had poured for himself and eating a bowl of berries, had explained what had happened.

"Tony, you knew what his deal was before. What changed?"

"On me! He used it on me!"

Rhodey raised both his eyebrows as he poured another glass for him. "And you didn't expect that?"

"It doesn't bother you?" Tony asked instead his voice rising embarrassingly.

"Not really."

"FRI could have been destroyed!" Tony's eyes widened. He was so focused on Rhodey that he forgot to check how FRIDAY was doing. "FRI, system check. Look for worms, malware, code rot. Reference the last backup before the supreme pain in my ass hurt you."

"Tony," Rhodey said sounding close to whining. " _Relax._ How'd you let him get under your skin so quickly?"

"I didn't. Getting under my skin implies he's mostly harmless but he did some juju- oh my God. I just remembered. Is Vision- where is Vision? Is he OK?"

"He is with Happy," FRIDAY answered.

Tony slumped with relief and bit into three small grapes at once. 

"Hey, take a deep breath. Don't start panicking over this. We vetted Strange. He is not a bad guy."

"How do we really know- Jesus H. _Christ!_ " Tony shouted jumping away as Strange materialised on the last chair in the kitchen.

"Colonel James Rhodes," Rhodey said smoothly, holding it out his hand for Strange to shake. "Do you have a preference?" He pointed at the eggs, cheeses, vegetables, all arranged neatly near the stove.

"Scrambled with a bit of salt, thank you," Strange replied. He turned to Tony with an apologetic expression. "Mr. Stark allow me to apologise to you for my behaviour since arriving. I did not take into consideration your relationship with your artificial intelligence or with magic. I have no intention of making you uncomfortable in your own home."

Tony got his breathing under control. "Thank you. I appreciate that. Just- just ask first."

"I will. I was too focused on my mission and all the dangers it presented but I will try my hardest."

"Good. Good. Trying is good," Tony said.

Rhodey clapped once. "See? It's all good. Tony, you wanted yours with cottage cheese?"

"Yeah, plenty. What is your mission anyway?"

Strange chewed on a piece of toasted bread thoughtfully. "By now you're very aware of my previous life as a doctor. I got into an accident destroying my hands beyond repair. Believe me I tried as hard as I could to fix them the normal way. Desperate I went on a journey to find people who could help me regain everything. So of course I ended up in Kathmandu where I met the Ancient One and learnt that magic is a very real thing. After this I pissed off another sorcerer by, uh, bending the rules a little... a lot."

"He's the one you're looking for?" Tony asked.

"Yes."

"And he thinks you're staying in Nepal?" Rhodey asked.

"Yes."

"Wait," Tony said realising something, "you were lying about where your base was going to be? Because..."

"Mordo could have been spying," Strange answered. "A small chance but why risk it?"

"Is he in New York?" Rhodey asked.

"Is he dangerous? Do we need to be a part of this? Can we even be a part of this?" Tony answered.

"He is," Strange replied. "I don't know yet. He's mostly targeting sorcerers, who forsake their duties by taking their mystical energy. If I need back up...."

"We'll be there. Seriously if you think for a second that you need help, you ask for it."

As soon as Tony has suits for both him and Rhodey that can function against magic. "How'd you piss him off anyway?"

"Mordo was very close to the Ancient One before their death. He was basically born into this. His ancestors were Masters of the mystic arts. I, on the other hand, remained desperate, even after I had found something that gave me a higher purpose, and I acted like it. I had less respect for the laws of nature – laws that Mordo followed religiously – than I should have. The Ancient One did not punish me and that alienated Mordo from them and from me."

Tony whistled after giving it some thought. "Understandable."

"Tony!" Rhodey cried out as he gave Strange his own plate. 

Strange didn't agree. "Murder is not understandable."

"Sometimes it is." After catching Rhodey's expression, Tony hurriedly explained himself. "Not in this case. Why go after others when you're one he hates?"

Rhodey titled his head. "You said he takes their energy? Is he-"

"Leveling up? I mean you are the one with _supreme_ in your title- as your title?"

Strange, who had pushing his food around disinterestedly, opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by FRIDAY.

"Boss, you have a call."

Tony stood up. "Who is it?"

"Executive director of the foundation."

"Excuse me, gentlemen."

Rhodey nodded with a faintly suspicious look on his face. As soon as Tony was ten floors down, he went into a random room and asked FRIDAY to activate the soundproofing mechanisms. After the room's walls, floor and ceilings was coated with sound cancelling nanobots, he answered the call on his cellphone.

"The final locations are in China," Jeffries said. "Took a while to extract information without damaging them too much."

Tony did not want torture charges to be brought up against the Avengers by anyone vindictive enough to care about Hydra agents. "Good. What else?"

"I have the dirt you requested. Not very comprehensive which is why I'm assuming you want me to remain in the country."

"Unless you're called in by the CIA, yes." Tony put Jeffries on hold before talking to FRIDAY. "Whatever he sent me, have it vetted and forward it to Laurel Morison. Warn her beforehand." He didn't want another rant about blackmail or good faith or extortion.

Then Tony froze as if whatever noise that was at the back of his head the moment he walked into the room cleared. "FRIDAY, I want all labs in the Tower operating by tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Nanobots! I can make a suit that can withstand a lot of damage with nano tech. It was literally looking at me in the eyes."

"Boss, what about the messages in the code and your meeting with King T'Challa?"

Tony deflated a little. He entertained the idea of postponing the meeting but he did strong arm the King a little.

"You're right.... The labs should be operational and I want raw materials: Nano everything. Have some of the guys from R&D on standby, especially Patricia."

"What about Ultron?"

Tony wrinkled his nose. "I think it's time to include other people. Rhodey, uh, some of the veteran scientists, from Howard’s time. They’re good with secrecy. How about a dozen of them? Tell Laurel to prepare NDAs just in case."

With that done, Tony returned to his call with Jeffries. "Listen, I need to you also look for KGB agents, former SHIELD agents, whoever Romanoff could possibly contact in Venezuela."

"Got it," Jeffries said.

"Stay safe," Tony said impulsively before ending the call.

He decided against returning to Rhodey's floor. It was better if Rhodey dealt with Strange alone, just like he was dealing with the world's enhanced being and just like he would be dealing with the Ultron situation while Tony snuck into Rwanda. 

"FRI, where's Vision now?" He asked in the elevator as he went up to see Hudson.

"At the U.N with Happy and Sam Reigns," FRIDAY asked. Tony frowned. Sam was a private investigator, one of dozens Rhodey had hired soon after they all returned to the Tower. He made a mental note to ask Vision about that.

"Hudson, what do you have for me?"

Hudson, who had stripped down to his undershirt, adjusted the magnifying glasses he was wearing. "Um."

"Is there a problem?"

"Just- just that I'm piecing it all together. It's... it looks scrambled like 'I am an apple tree this' but about Odin, Yggdrasill and what might be Valhalla instead."

"Do you need some assistance? I can get the others."

"That would be great. I didn't- I didn't know how to bring it up but I need to go to Pennsylvania."

Tony wracked his brain before remembering. "Your mother's birthday. FRI, get something expensive and durable for Mrs. Hudson."

"That's not n-necessary. You pay me so much-"

"What you're doing means a lot to me, doctor. I can't in good conscious know about your mom's birthday and not do anything."

Hudson blushed. "Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"No problem. Now tell me about the fragments."

Hudson jumped slightly before arranging the images on the large monitor in front of them.

"You know," Tony said as he looked into the owlish eyes of the linguists, "you can just enlarge the images."

Hudson looked embarrassed. "I have a process," he said apologetically. "Also I thought I could find clues inside the grooves of the markings. Your... assistant said it wasn't possible to carbon date or really do anything with the tablets so I was going by sight. It's fragmented like I said, out of order too so I've been rearranging words to see if it follows. 

"Odin is mentioned thrice, twice by his name, Odin," Hudson gave a nervous chuckle before resuming the lecture, "and once by the moniker 'Enemy of the Wolf'. There's a possible Thor mention. See here," Hudson pointed at a word near the bottom. "This is a bear which historically was one of Thor's other names. I was uncertain until I cross-referenced it with Thor's scrolls. I can continue working on it but I think you need to find the rest before it comes together. I mean, if it comes together."

“It will.” It has to.

"Boss, Francis Kepler is on the line."

"Shit, shit. Tell him I'm very busy."

A few minutes later, FRIDAY told him, "He asks if you'll come to his retirement party. He says and I quote-"

"Don't quote him!"

"Why? What's wrong?" Hudson asked with concern.

"He says that it'll be worth your time."

Tony cringed. "Very busy then and possibly forever."

"Do I quote you?"

"FRI! No, just tell him I'm... meeting... potential... Avenger members."

"OK," FRIDAY said chirpily.

Rhodey called him immediately after. Tony went to the other room to give Hudson some space.

"Two things: I'm looking over the former spies-"

"Security staff."

"-I'm cutting two of them. Second-"

"Why? I handpicked them."

"-your appointment is tomorrow after my session is done."

"We're sharing therapists? Isn't that... unsafe?"

"She'll recommend someone for you."

Tony grimaced. He didn't want to be recommended or even to talk to someone who be working for him (is that how therapy worked?) temporarily. "Why are you dropping two of the best security staff out there?"

"The mental assessments made me a bit uneasy and after Hydra, I'm taking no chances."

"Munchkin, remember how Natasha said I was unfit for the Avengers and now I'm one of the only five members?"

"Don't- never mind. Tones I'm a Colonel and I'm pretty sure we were more thorough than SHIELD ever was. Also, there are now twenty members of the Avengers and counting, both slowly and dizzyingly fast somehow."

"Send me what you have on the other fifteen. By the way," Tony said before the call was ended, "why is Vision with Reigns?"

"Someone from the New York enhanced community went there. Nothing violent, just... disgruntled."

Tony rubbed his temple. "I can't believe people are buying into the idea that they're being targeted despite not crossing borders. I _can_ , yes, but I don’t want to."

Rhodey sounded a touch angry. "You would not believe the letters and emails I get."

"You know I could make it impossible for people to contact you."

"I won't be able to get anything done."

"Fine, some people."

"Nah. Sometimes it's funny. I'm having Mongolian for lunch. Let me dig some letters up for you."

Tony looked back at Hudson, hard at work with his ridiculous glasses, and decided why not? At least he had something to look forward to in-between the tiresome boredom of staring at code.

"Sure, cupcake."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many things happening at the same time. I just realised that Tony is keeping secrets from everyone so every time he gets a sensitive call/message he has to go away and it's pretty suspicious lmao. I love writing Rhodey. I'm liking how easy Strange (and Mordo) are to write. Vision is coming back. I'm kinda glad the timeline has been shortened. I can't imagine writing 1-2 days chapters until the story reaches April 2018.
> 
> Please leave comments. They inspire me.


	9. Chapter 9

"Here." Rhodey hurriedly licks his hands clean. Tony passed him a napkin to clean them properly. Rhodey ignored it and pulled a satchel from a nearby table. He removed a stack of letters bound by two rubber bands. "From the past few months."

Tony took the stack, removed the rubber bands and began reading the letters. Immediately he wanted to crumble them. "Jesus," he said by the time he got to the second one.

"They're not holding back."

"No, they are not. FRI, find these assholes for me."

"Tony-" Rhodey began, looking very annoyed.

"No, no! Listen to this, "Why the hell are we taking this from a cripple?" I mean what the fuck? Screw this guy. I want his house."

"You cannot fix what people think of me, Tony."

"I can try."

"Dammit, Tony. This! This is why I kept this from you. We're supposed to laugh at these guys, not go looking to make them homeless."

Tony, unamused, said, "Fine. Let's laugh. Johnny Storm a-"

"Pyrokinetic," Rhodey supplied.

"Wait, seriously?"

Rhodey nodded. "Considered him for the team until that letter."

"Well fuck him and his _pyrokinesis_. We can burn stuff up too. It's nothing special."

Rhodey slowly became less rigid. "His sister's in Qatar and she's good at being invisible which apparently makes her a threat."

"She's there legally, right? She's not a terrorist or prone to destruction, right? Then what's the problem?"

Rhodey seized on that like he had been waiting for it. "There's a lot of misinformation. Fox News is so pro Accords- for isolationist reasons obviously- that people on the other side assume the worst. There's so much misinformation out there that public support keeps fluctuating constantly."

"Right. So we come out-"

"Again? That's not enough. We need a proper campaign. Internationally too. We run ads, get experts on TV, have centrist politicians come out for it. Get celebrities to endorse."

Tony was working on something like it. A pro-Accords campaign that does not vilify Rogers and his crew. It's hard especially since the whole thing was caused by them. 

"On it," Tony said. 

"Good. So that's item one on my list."

"Wait so this isn't a friendly lunch where we just hang out?"

"I can multitask. Besides, you can’t leave most of the work to me and expect me to have-"

"But you're _so_ good at it. You're a Colonel."

"I know and agree," Rhodey told him, "which is why I'm not complaining. I'm just saying get used to this."

Tony grinned. "I know what this is about."

"Tell me what this is about."

"You're mad that when I was CEO-"

"I remember that vaguely."

"-I had to work all the time."

"So?"

"So I had to multitask. I had to juggle you-"

"Juggle? Okay. Okay."

Tony snickered. "That sounded bad."

"That's because it was. Talking about me like I'm a task."

"No, no. Juggle. You juggle balls so-"

Rhodey groaned loudly cutting Tony off, "Why are you like this?"

Tony could have pushed. If it was anyone else he would have but Rhodey got uncomfortable easily. Instead he opened another letter. It was in legal jargon from a woman whose name he thought was familiar. Bored, he read the next one and it was written like a really long tweet. The next one made him stop.

"Jesus."

"Which one?"

"The one that starts with a slur."

"Oh yeah," Rhodey laughed though his eyes were blazing. 

Tony looked away from him. He supposed that no one liked being called that, especially a man who was as straight as Rhodey. His heart was thudding though and for some reason he thought Rhodey could hear it so he made a joke.

"She spelt it wrong anyway. I thought everyone knew there was an 'o' in there."

"Tony," Rhodey said warningly.

"What? Just because sometimes it's pronounced with an 'a' doesn't mean that it has one. Wow, it's the only one she got wrong."

"Tony." Rhodey's lips were pressed together.

"Do you think she did that on purpose just to annoy you?"

"Tony!" Rhodey snapped. If he could, he would have stood.

"What? Stop freaking out," Tony said taking note of Rhodey's accelerated breathing. "No one really thinks you're gay anyway."

Rhodey grunted. He went back to eating his food while Tony quickly went through the rest of the letters. "That was something," Tony said. "Not very fun."

"It's your fault. Now I'm going in with a bad mood."

"Well _excuse me_ ," Tony said a little offended but he knew Rhodey's issues. He should have moved on but damn it, they were nearly fifty; too damn old to get wound up by words like those. How does Rhodey go to a therapist and come out with his issues still intact? "What are you doing anyway?"

"Facetiming with Noh Jun Hong, the leader of the South Korean team which I'm assuming that you knew because I sent you-"

"Yeah, yeah. Any problems?"

"Just seeing what they need while we build a compound for them."

"Why are we building it if the Koreans are already building their weapons and who knows what else?"

"Because," Rhodey said not very patiently as he pulled his phone out, "they are the Avengers too."

Tony raised his hands slightly to placate him. Then as Rhodey made the call, Tony got a good look at his face. His skin was dry, his eyes were redder than they've been in a while. When Tony looked closer, leaning forward and nearly bulging his eyes, he saw new wrinkles. Maybe he should lessen Rhodey's load. After all, he was working on his body braces every day, physical therapy every other day and the Avenger business on top of that. After Siberia, the remaining members and Peter, who was on the phone, had sat down and made a game plan that felt workable. Tony thought they should hold another meeting just to redistribute roles.

"Lieutenant," Rhodey began, "I'm here with Dr. Tony Stark." He turned the phone so Tony could wave with a press conference smile at someone who was rather young. "I'm calling to ask how things are going. I believe you said there were some problems in the emails."

"Yes, sir," said a mechanic voice that did not sync with Jun Hong’s mouth, "we have some issues with the land. We have been considering adding a shapeshifter who is quite similar to Dr. Bruce Banner."

"And you need more acres?"

Tony pulled out his own phone and started writing multiple texts to his accountants.

"Yes, if it's not too much to ask."

"Hey, you are a member of the Avengers. It's never too much to ask."

"Unless it is," Tony added as he replied to the texts. He briefly wondered what he sounded like in Korean. When his developers made the app, he only tried it in European languages. "So ten acres? Fifteen? Twenty?"

"Twenty," the Lieutenant said. "She can make herself very large."

Rhodey tapped his tablet for a few seconds and a hologram a black woman shifting into a pterodactyl appeared. Then Tony remembered hearing about dinosaurs in Busan while in the hospital getting his sternum reinforced. 

"Let's make it forty," Tony said. 

Rhodey turned the phone so that Tony was out of frame. "Anything else?"

"No, sir. Everything else can be taken care of by us. Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome, Lieutenant," Rhodey said. There was a shuffle that Tony could barely hear and then Rhodey saluted. The call ended. "He's a good kid. Conscripted years ago."

Young but the only one in the South Korean team who showed an ability to lead some unorthodox members. "That’s it?"

"Yeah," Rhodey said typing on both his phone and tablet. "Answering emails. Then I'm going to conference room for the rest of the evening. By the way, are you clear to travel over northern Europe at least? Say to Norway?"

"Norway?” Tony thought about it. “They didn't push for the Accords as hard as England so… a few days or weeks, as soon as their trade negotiations with China end, I'll probably be cleared. China had to choose now to normalise relations again. Why?"

"Apparently, they'll ask for you specifically if they chose to make their own team."

Tony grimaced. If the negotiations end within five days and they send him a request, he'll barely have time to meet T'Challa, sneak back out of Rwanda, return to the States and then leave officially for Norway. He could take his time but all of this has been proving that the Avengers respect other countries. Besides, it'll do Stark Industries a lot of good for the owner to show up to one of their locations.

"Fine. I can manage."

Rhodey cleaned his fingers with the napkin, then after using the camera, he wiped his mouth and chin. Tony was slightly mesmerised by the movement. "Gotta go. The Japanese foreign minister is so annoyingly punctual. You'll talk to Viz when he gets back?"

"Sure," Tony said. Rhodey was using his mechanised wheelchair today. Tony could not really understand why he switched wheelchairs. Then again the closest Tony came to being disabled was the hole in his chest so he would probably not get it anyway.

Vision came ten minutes after Rhodey left. He was wearing an ugly swear with a pair of suit pants. His skin was white instead of purple. Tony stared at him until Happy cleared his throat.

"So," Happy said.

"Why is your skin like that?" Tony asked

Vision flinched and said hesitantly, "I have thought about it and I think people respond better to someone who looks like them."

Tony thought about the Twitter account and the driving lessons. "Whatever works," he said. It did not the most sense but then again Vision was only a year old. "Heard you were breaking up a protest."

"It was really dangerous but Vision and I, we handled it."

"I'm glad you're safe," Tony said flatly. Vision's shoulders began loosening.

"I'm glad you're glad."

"Oh I'm very glad."

"Glad enough to add vacation days. It's not that I'm not _glad_ for the fifty days but my mum-"

"Your mum?" 

"You know my mum, getting older every year."

"Imagine that," Tony said biting back laughter. 

"She needs extra care. From me."

Tony smiled gently. He never met Happy's parents before but they were pretty spry for a couple of ninety year olds. "You know if you want to spent time with your girlfriend," Tony giggled on the last word, "you only have to ask."

Happy nudged Vision with his elbow. "See, this is why I don't go to him for anything." Vision's cheeks were jerking slightly.

Tony got up. He had to go back to work. "Happy walk with me. Viz, Rhodey's in conference room...."

"Three," FRIDAY supplied. Vision phased through the floor without any warning.

Tony put his hands on Happy and began guiding him. "Listen, I'm going to need transport to Kigali. Very incognito."

"Tony I can’t-"

"Hey, you're my head of security and I need you to _secure_ transport for me, preferably one that takes hours."

"But Pepper-"

"I write the cheques. Besides, I have no intention of being seen by anyone. She won’t know."

Happy was uncertain. "What if she finds out?"

"I'll take all the heat," Tony said before squeezing Happy's shoulders. "Relax, it'll be like the good old days. Just you and me. Scratch that, just me alone and you pretending not to have a clue where I am."

"I do have a clue, though. A big, fat, I-helped-you-leave-the-country clue. Tony, Tony, Pepper's not like you. She can be scary. I don't want to be scared."

"It's only for a day."

"Why do you need to do this? Why can’t you send someone-"

Tony mimicked zipping Happy's lips. "Get it done. Right now, please." 

The elevator opened for him. Strange was already inside and still in his wizard clothes. Tony entered with barely any hesitation.

"Strange."

"Stark."

Tony wrinkled his noise. "Call me Tony please. Stark was my father's name."

"Tony," Strange amended.

Tony waited for a few seconds. "This is the part you say, 'Call me Stephen.'"

"I'm good," Strange said. Tony could only narrow his eyes. Strange got off his floor which looked the same but Tony could hear FRI from a smart speaker on top of a coffee table. 

When he arrived back up to his main lab, Hudson was rubbing the bridge of his nose. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Hudson replied tiredly. Then he realised who was talking to him. "Oh, I found 'Bifrost' and 'Jotunn' so far. Still fragmented. I can see that some words have either been separated or joined together randomly. Also I talked to Alexandra Minor and she thinks she can get here by nightfall."

"Great. Keep up the good work." His phone began buzzing. "Hold on."

"Tony," Laurel said. "I have got some good news."

"How many countries?"

"Thirteen and counting, mostly from Northern Europe. I'm bringing in some people to keep up. Norway asked we keep this quiet until the Chinese delegation goes back to their country. The Africans are having an AU Summit soon and this will be brought up."

"That’s amazing."

"I'm not even done yet," Laurel said. "You can go to the entire region as both Iron Man and Tony Stark even though legislation is going to be introduced in countries and the EU to officially treat you as a separate entity. It gets better. China is willing to consider allowing you, as Tony Stark, into the country as soon as you restart the factories."

Tony sucked in air. "Give me time to think about that one. You know the deals I made. Colv-" Tony remembered that he was not alone, "I've already asked Pepper to look at different American cities. Just see what else we can offer them."

"Tony, this is exactly why you should let the fugitives deal with the consequences of their actions."

"Laurel-"

"They are grown men and women. You cannot jeopardize yourself trying to help them. You should not be doing this."

"This isn't about me or them. One day you're going to be very relieved I did this. Now anything else?"

Laurel sighed. "Your NDAs are done. I just need names of whoever you’re giving them to so I can get started in case you need to sue them."

"You'll have them before tomorrow."

"Take care, Tony."

"I will."

Tony sent a message the head of the East African branch of Stark Industries to discretely find him a house in a place with numerous white residents. Then he went back to reading lines of code.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell me what you think


	10. Chapter 10

The next few hours passed in a blur as the scientists and linguists began arriving and he had to train the team working on Ultron’s code on how to work cut off from the rest of the world. The instructions were simple enough: write down any piece of code that didn’t look like a code. The NDAs were signed quickly as it was standard practice before each project. He passed the final list of names to Laurel. Hudson showed him the most interesting find in the code yet which ought to convince T’Challa if all else failed. Peter called right before Tony was supposed to leave.

"Mr. Stark, is it OK if I stay at the Tower tomorrow? I told Aunt May that you needed all your interns for something."

"Why?"

"I panicked. She was asking questions about Spider-man- I was on the news and they called me a hero!"

"Very exciting," Tony said. "You can help Rhodey around."

Peter gasped, "With the leg braces thingy. I have some ideas but I didn't say anything in case it was ableist-"

"Able-what? No, not the braces... okay maybe the braces if he asks. Just help around, get some training done, occupy yourself."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark! I promise I won't let you down."

Before Tony could remind the boy that it was just a day of being useful, the call ended. Happy came inside the closet Tony was in and put down a suit.

"This the best looking one I found that's your size at the thrift store," he said straightening the sleeves.

"Good, have it cleaned before I leave."

"It's clean."

"Are you sure? What does it smell like?"

Happy sniffed it. "Nothing. Like clean clothes."

"If I break out in hives, I'm kicking your ass."

Happy was unimpressed. "The plane is ready for you at LaGuardia. The pilot's name is Jim Jefferson. He'll be waiting for you."

"Got it. Thanks buddy."

"Uh, you're welcome... buddy?"

Tony put the suit inside of a bag that he had just removed from the closet. "Borrow something cheap from a parking lot. 

"What?"

Tony began pushing him out. "Go take something a middle aged man would drive."

"But that's stealing."

"Take from the long stay parking."

"I'll get caught."

"You won't. Go, go, go. I'm late."

Happy was having trouble staying on his feet. "To what?"

"Happy, so help me God, if you don't-"

"Okay, okay! I'll go but FRIDAY better be watching my back."

"I'll be in the cameras," FRIDAY said. "And the alarms and-"

"She’ll be there. Go!"

Once Happy left, Tony removed a large square of false floor to reveal a fanny pack, a small titanium case, two guns and four magazines. He unfolded the fanny pack so that it was the size of a small bag pack, opened it and stored the case in side. He left the guns behind for his watch gauntlet that T'Challa would no doubt recognise and a miniature Unibeam held to his chest by a thin strap that T’Challa would not. It was flat, already charged and camouflaged to match his skin. Tony put them all inside the other bag with the suit and went into the elevator.

"Sir, do you need help?" One of the security guards asked.

"I'm good."

Tony left the building and walked down two blocks to where Happy was waiting.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

Tony took the keys from him. "No. Again tell anyone about this-"

"Yeah, yeah, torture and death. Listen if you're not back soon, I'll have to go to Pepper in case it's another kidnapping."

"Fine. Keep in mind I could just be distracted."

Tony drove off, weaving past traffic until Happy was out of sight before he changed directions. At a suburb, he dug out the case, opened it and removed a Photostatic veil and a blond wig. He carefully put it on and looked at the mirror as he took on the appearance of a man who had announced plans to visit Kigali. The wig was next and only required finger combing before it looked natural. He unbuttoned his shirt and put the Unibeam node on.

Tony pulled up into the Compound with a blank keycard that FRIDAY pretended to scan. He walked past Vision, once again in pale skin and a hideous sweater vest. The smallest quinjet had been fitted with tires. Out of the whole fleet, this one was the most silent. It took moments to get in and start the plane before wheeling it out of the hangar. The jet flew out with minimal turbulence. After putting the plane on autopilot, Tony changed clothes. Three hours later, Tony went over the Rwandan border. It was dawn when he finally stopped kilometer over a tourist hotel. He set the jet to hover, hoping anyone below would think it is just wind from the cold weather instead.

"FRI, all cameras on hyperfocus. Maintain a distance of ten kilometers unless I'm attacked."

Parachuting was never Tony's thing; he preferred to fly over falling. His knees buckled painfully when he landed on the roof of the hotel. After folding the parachute down to the smallest it could be and putting in under a pile of wood, he limped his way through a rusted door that led to the roof. FRIDAY had been given instructions to disrupt any cameras until Tony found an empty room. Tony found a room third floor down that he locked and did a quick sweep over for bugs with his phone. 

"FRI, send my location."

At eight, someone tried opening the door and cursed when they couldn't. Ten minutes later, a key was inserted into the keyhole and the door was opened. Tony was not worried since FRIDAY controlled the camera so when he saw the Dora Milaje who shadowed T'Challa in Vienna, he only wiggled his fingers at her.

"Mr. Stark, this is not a townhouse," she said mildly disapproving.

"I know. You're welcome to search the place for bugs. I've found nothing obviously."

She removed a bead from her bracelet and carefully scanned every foot of the room including Tony. "You have brought weapons," she said.

Tony glanced at the bead. It was as amazing as he was told it was, seeing through his camouflage casually. "I am a man that many want dead."

"Including King T'Challa, you believe."

"I'm just being cautious."

"If you attempt to harm my King, you will regret it to your last second."

Tony crossed his heart. "Never."

T'Challa walked through that door flanked by two other women. "Mr. Stark."

"Glad you came, Your Majesty," Tony tapped the veil and the false face disappeared, "now you can soundproof the room." All four looked at him blankly. "Oh come on, I know you can do that."

T'Challa nodded his head. The three women removed one bead after another and placed them on all corners. There was a sharp distorted sound that reverberated through the room. T'Challa sat on a chair and the women stood beside and behind him.

"Thank you. So Rogers and his crew first and then the possible end of the world?"

"You told me you knew where they were and yet you said nothing to UN. That is puzzling," T'Challa said. "Everything I have read about you suggested that you would do otherwise."

"Everything official that I read about you said that you were a King to a third world country decades behind mine."

"What do you want from them?"

"The ex-Avengers? We were formed to stop attacks from near unbeatable enemies. We’ll need to assemble again soon."

The shortest Dora shifted and narrowed her eyes. "You think they'll be an attack like the Chitauri."

"It's guaranteed. Thor confirmed it before he left the planet after Ultron. There's a being named Thanos, who is searching the universe for Infinity Gems like the Space Gem that was inside the Tessarect and the Mind Gem."

"Like the one inside your friend Vision," T'Challa said. "So he will come to earth to find that one. Isn't the solution obvious?"

Tony ignored that last part. "Yes, of the two only the Mind Gem remains on earth. Thanos knew about the Tessarect because-"

"SHIELD activated the Tessarect allowing Loki to know its location. The files that were dumped on the internet confirmed it. Steve Rogers told us how and why Vision was formed. You're telling us things we already know."

"You misunderstand,” Tony said. “Thanos was always going to come to earth. He sent Loki to find the Tessarect which housed the Space Gem that Odin left here hundreds of years ago. There’s more. I used the Mind Gem and accidentally made Ultron- yes, yes, you know, let me make my point…. Recently I thought it would make sense to look over Ultron's code and I found something." For the first time, T'Challa was starting to look interested. "Asgardian words, likely from Loki’s mind about the Gems.”

"What does Thanos want the Gems for?"

"Power. Limitless power for something terrifying. I need the Avengers to be ready when he comes knocking again." 

"The Avengers are not within my borders," T'Challa said. “I can’t help you there.”

Tony smiled. "That's true. They are probably somewhere in Asia, preparing to fight Hydra on Chinese soil. The Chinese aren't stupid, Your Majesty. There's been enough questions surrounding Zemo's capture and Rogers' disappearance that they are bound to make some accurate guesses."

"I gave the Captain refuge because I nearly killed his friend but only at first. He now roams the planet doing his duty as he sees fit."

Tony gritted his teeth. "Call him back. Tell him something happened to Barnes-"

"And then hold him and the others hostage?"

"Give him a way back home," Tony said, almost tripping over the word home. "We both support the Accords, we both don't want to piss China off, presumably. We’re on the same side. We can get them pardoned."

"Your friends are pardoned then we fight a power hungry alien. Tell me, Mr. Stark, why not just expelled Vision from the planet?"

Tony reigned in his temper. "And here I thought you guys recognised androids as people."

"Not if their presence threatens life on earth."

"And handing him over to Thanos wouldn't threaten life on earth?"

T'Challa tilted his head. "We could destroy the stone."

"Oh that's easy," Tony said flashing a grin, "it's the Time Gem you should worry about. It's on earth, too."

T'Challa froze momentarily. "So that's what you were unwilling to say."

Tony ignored the accusation. "I haven't found it yet. It's probably the most dangerous one."

"You know what it does?"

"Bends time."

"You're guessing."

"I haven't found it yet," Tony repeated letting his frustration seep into his voice. T'Challa looked unbothered by that. "Are we going to do this?"

"No, we can't allow-"

"Okoye," T'Challa said losing some of the evenness in his tone. Okoye stopped talking though it looked like a struggle. "The pardons are going to take a long time since no one knows our true power."

"I can't ask you to stop hiding-" Okoye coldly broke into something that sounded South African. "What? I'm not trying to insult you. It is the truth. You are hiding."

"The world is not ready," said the Dora who had not yet spoken. 

"Fine then. The world is unprepared…. I was going to say that I am aware of your work with the Council." All three women shifted marginally but the most telling was Okoye whose mouth tightened. "All you have to do is be more aggressive. Also, definitely call Rogers back and distract him until the Chinese deal with Hydra."

"Distract?" Okoye asked. Tony was starting to get the impression that he was pissing her off when he shouldn’t.

"If they go after this secret super weapon inside a country that is very anti Avengers, then we can kiss any hope of truly organising a counter attack away."

"You are already making multiple teams around the world," Okoye said.

"Inspired by the original Avengers." That did not move them. "Look chances are that there will be an attack on U.S soil, probably New York-"

"Where your android lives," T'Challa interrupted. 

"Where I sent a nuke through a portal and obliterated Thanos' army," Tony snapped. "We need an American team. We're not exactly swimming in talent over there. Many folks still support Rogers, they look up to him. The fact of the matter is I need him and the others back."

"Even after what they did?"

So, T'Challa knew. Tony had wondered about it in the aftermath. He held himself still. "What they did?"

"The fight," T'Challa answered. Tony started relaxing when T’Challa continued, "Though it seems you thought I was talking about the tape.” Tony got to his feet. “Calm yourself, Tony Stark, I didn't watch it. The Captain told me its content."

Tony gave an ugly grin. "He tells everyone but me. Interesting."

"My aim is not to cause you distress. It's that your motives are a little baffling. Months ago you were fighting the Captain and Sergeant Barnes and now you want them living on your property."

Tony almost rubbed his face before he remembered the veil. "This is not a convoluted plan to kill them. I have had time to think about the tape and I know now that if I saw Rogers or, hell, Barnes again, I would not attack them." Unless they attacked him first.

T'Challa nodded again. He removed a bracelet from his wrist and plucked a bead out. "We shall communicate using this."

Tony reached out and took it. The bead was so smooth and heavier than he expected it to be. He didn't tell them that he would study the thing mostly because they probably knew he would do that. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

T'Challa smiled lightly. "Mr. Stark."

"Call me Tony," Tony said absentmindedly, still examining the bead. "Good luck on your coronation."

"What do you know about it?" Okoye asked sharply.

"Just that I imagined it would be as boring as when I was given control over my company?" Though now Tony knew it wasn't the kneel-and-put-on-a-crown affair he thought it was. It seemed that they were more rankled by his knowledge than they have let on. 

"I'll get in contact with the Captain and bring him to Wakanda,” T’Challa promised. “I suggest you inform the Chinese government immediately."

"I will," Tony said turning the veil back on and the bag pack into a fanny pack. He left first with the intention of taking a taxi to the outskirts of Kigali. The receptionist was playing a game on a Stark computer and barely looked up before Tony put more money than necessary on the table. The streets of the city was bustling with people. Tony stood on his toes to look for taxis. One man leaning on an old Corolla noticed him and beckoned him forward. Tony jogged across the street to the car.

"How much to just outside of the city?"

"In which direction?" The man asked.

"South. From, uh, through Kicukiro," Tony said. He went to the side door, ignoring the urge to buy the car so he could be the one to drive it.

Then a voice said, "Mr. Stark." Into Tony's ear, echoing over and over again. Tony carefully looked up from the door handle like he heard a loud noise. It was when he noticed that everything around him was frozen. There was a man dressed in similar clothes to Stephen just a few feet from Tony. “You are coming with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was fun writing T'Challa and Okoye. Can you guess that they are suspicious of Tony lol? I don't exactly blame them. I also read the Infinity War prequel comics and tbh sometimes I feel like Marvel thinks we need superhumans for everything. I think some governments can handle certain threats on their own. Oh and in case this story makes it look like I'm being sinophobic, I 100% support the Chinese not liking the idea of Americans fighting in their country.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter because I'm finishing up another fic.

"How'd you find me?"

"Your bodyguard."

Tony started. "If you did anything to him I swear-"

"He was talking on the phone, Mr. Stark. I do not harm people," the man said with an air of amused boredom.

Tony looked around at the stationary chaos. "That's not what I heard."

Mordo smiled. "You have only heard half the story. Walk with me."

If Mordo wanted him dead, he would have done it already. Tony put his hands on his pocket and took careless steps towards the man. A portal, far brighter than Strange's opened up and swallowed the both of them. They arrived inside a cavernous room with a ceiling so high Tony could barely see it and air so clean, Tony wished his lungs were normal sized so he could take in deep breaths. The room was quiet in a solid way that both comforted Tony and pushed him to speak. 

"This is where you live?"

"This is where I meditate," Mordo answered. He sat down on a large orange rug and crossed his legs. Tony sat next to him, noting that the walls of the room looked like honeycombs. 

"Not that I don't enjoy quiet moments but I am a busy man and so...." Mordo raised an eyebrow, his posture ramrod straight and relaxed at the same time somehow. "Once upon a time," Tony prompted.

"What is the worst thing that can happen to a person?" Mordo asked in a soft voice.

"Torture," Tony answered easily. He got a side-eye for that as if Mordo thought he was lying.

"Death of both parents before adulthood. Before you can properly understand death. Before you've accomplished something entirely on your own and presented that accomplishment to them." The soft tone became melancholic the longer Mordo spoke. "I was ten years old on vacation in India."

"I'm sorry," Tony said as kindly as he could. At least he was seventeen and at home when his parents died.

"Thank you," Mordo replied blinking. 

"You had no family back home?" Tony guessed.

Mordo shook his head. "It was just my parents and I. We did not even family friends. My parents were awkward, anti-social people, they felt they only needed each other. I was far from the embassy and so I did the only thing that made sense: I ran away. The Ancient One found me half dead from dehydration. They brought me to Kamar Taj."

"No offense… but that's kidnapping," Tony said.

Mordo glared at him sharply. "I was saved and given higher purpose."

"You kind of didn't have a choice."

"Did you have a choice when you were given your father's company? Would you have it any other way?"

Yes, Tony thought. "No," he said and it felt more truthful. "You were trained?"

"Not immediately. I was given a tutor and continued my education." Mordo sent Tony a look that said 'you spoke too soon.' Tony shrugged. "Then I trained, for decades. I served the Ancient One faithfully. First out of loyalty and then, after I understood the weight of power and our place in the cosmos, out of duty. Stephen Strange had no such foundation, Mr. Stark. He came to us for a cure so he could get back the life he lived. He was talented without a doubt, I taught him myself." Tony blinked in surprised. "Did he not tell you? I tried to show him that we did more than magic, that there were many things that are equally important. Your mind and your will have to be strong. You might have a strict code of conduct…. It was the power Strange held that captivated him. He was impatient, reckless and spent far too little time in training."

"People have said that about me," Tony pointed out.

"You're not faultless, Mr. Stark. Your hands are tainted with blood."

Tony drew back, forcing himself to be impassive. "Yet, here we are."

"I've been shown your attempts to fix what you destroy, Mr. Stark," Mordo said. "This time you will prevent disaster before it happens."

"How?" Tony asked despite himself.

"The Ancient One passed an extremely powerful artefact to Strange." For all Mordo appeared to be only politely displeased by this, the tight jawline and very careful breathing betrayed the depth of his disappointment.

"You trusted them, didn't you? Why question their choice of-"

"Mr. Stark-"

"Call me Tony."

"They were called the Ancient One, not the Infallible One. Mistakes can be made by anyone. The fact remains that Strange should not have that artefact."

"But you should," Tony said with a wry grin.

"No," Mordo said surprising Tony for the third time, "no one should. It's too powerful, too destructive. It should be sealed away and all knowledge of it wiped from the Universe by any means necessary."

"By any means? I don't-"

"The collective life in the Universe is worth more than a few people's," Mordo said forcefully, his facade breaking. "Our duty as sorcerers is not to present ourselves as heroes or play with something that should not even see the light of day. It's about order, humility and respect for the laws of nature."

Tony swallowed, truly intimidated for the first time. "Look, buddy, I-"

"I'm giving you a choice," Mordo spoke as if he did not hear Tony. "Return to your Tower, pretend this did not happen and watch as more and more people die. People you could have and should have saved."

"Or?" Tony asked in an unsteady voice.

"Help me stop Strange. He will bring ruin to the Universe. I cannot in good conscience allow that to happen…. I saw you fly that bomb into that wormhole. You try to be a good man, I respect that but your life is not more significant than billions people on Earth alone. If you refuse to help me, then you will be dealt with as an ally of Strange."

Tony stood up. "Lots to think about," he said as if he were unfazed. "Since I'm not a prisoner...."

Mordo was calm again, bordering on friendly, as if a switch was flipped. He got to his feet too. "I will take you back but first, I must do something. Ever since I was a boy, I would try to give something to people to-"

"For karma?" Tony asked beginning to apprehensive.

"Something similar," Mordo answered with a benign smile. "You have a curse inside of you, Mr. Stark," he declared in that voice that reverberated inside Tony’s ears.

"A curse?"

"I will show you the curse and the castor."

"Hey, hey, hey. No!" It was too late. Mordo pressed a hand over Tony's chest and Tony became engulfed in gold light. When he looked up, there was a mirror in front of him and he could see a red web incasing his head. "Remove it," he said out of breath and raising his hand to do it. Mordo plucked the web off and then sunk his hands into Tony's skull, filling Tony's entire body with the coldest sensation imaginable. "You can't-"

"Look," Mordo said as he removed his hand, a thick rope of red magic coming with it. "The sickness, it festers." He sunk his hand over and over again and each time, the parasite grew smaller and smaller. Finally he released Tony.

"What the hell?"

"Do you wish to know who did this?"

"I know, I know. Maximoff. When?"

Mordo pushed him towards the mirror. "Enter."

Tony, without thinking, stepped through. He was inside a grey, shabby bedroom. Maximoff was sleeping on the only bed, tossing and turning. Her hands were pulsating with her magic. When Tony turned around drawn in by a voice he knew, he saw himself in the Tower. Maximoff's magic was writhing on his skin, shaped like a three headed dragon, flying around his body. Tony closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was standing beside Mordo.

"Strange knew," Mordo told him. He was dispassionate when he spoke. 

"Why didn't he remove it?" Tony asked. He knew the answer before he finished speaking.

"A thrall is easier to manipulate," Mordo replied like it was the simplest thing to grasp. 

Tony could hear the portal opening behind him. He felt a certain reluctance to leave. Mordo's threats would become real if Tony left. He could not stay either. 

The streets burst into life when Tony stepped through and he could not help flinching. He entered the taxi, forgetting for a short while that someone else would be driving him for the first time in years. Everything was said and done mechanically until the taxi left the city.

Tony forced himself to focus as his phone vibrated in increasing intensity as he came closer to the quinjet until it was almost falling out of his hands. There was no one around, the taxi driver had been gone for an hour now, with a disproportionate amount of money. 

About twenty feet from the jet, it opened up for him. "FRIDAY."

"Boss," FRIDAY said relieved.

"Hack into the satellites above Rwanda and see if anyone knows I'm here."

When the plane was in the air, Tony removed the veil and the wig. He opened the contacts of his phone for a number no one else had.

"Tony."

"Laurel. Start the case."

"What will you do about Ross?"

"He's smart but predictable. Besides, Ellis is leaving office in less than year. Ross will be gone then."

"All right. Just make sure he doesn’t interfere as much as you can."

The next thing was to contact Hu Zemin, the Minister of State Security, about Hydra. Tony would first send a secure message to the American ambassador the moment he was stateside. Hopefully by then T'Challa would have detained Rogers and all the others. For the next few hours, Tony could only replay Mordo's words over and over again in his heads, getting wound up until he had to pace the length of the quinjet just to have something to do.

"ETA twenty minutes," FRIDAY said.

Tony ran his hands over his face, thinking about how he could feel magic running along his veins, poisoning his thoughts. He shivered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I gave Mordo a backstory. Hopefully he'll be important in the next Doctor Strange movie. Kind of disappointed he wasn't in Infinity War. I'm an 1/4 way through this fic. Thank you to everyone who has been reading and commenting so far.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any mistakes made. I'm juggling my last semester (hopefully if the lecs don't strike again) and three different stories which is why this took so long.

He landed the plane inside a heavily reinforced hangar above his penthouse. No one was waiting for him in the Tower which made Tony relax a little. 

"FRI, where is Strange?"

"He left the building in his portal."

He went to his little used office, turned around after catching himself in a reflection. A shower turned to late breakfast before he chose the most expensive suit he had and a pair of yellow sunglasses. The bead T'Challa gave him was put inside a small safe in case it could eavesdrop.

"FRI, encrypted call to Bellamy Winters."

A minute later, a weathered face of the ambassador to China appeared two feet in front of Tony. "Ambassador."

"Tony Stark. This is quite sudden."

"I need you to pass intel along to the Chinese government of an impending Hydra attack."

Bellamy simply blinked. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Let them take it from you, then you tell them you were planning on sharing all along."

Bellamy tutted momentarily. "Tony. I'm almost retiring, I can't be caught up in this."

"Your son's doing well in school."

"He is."

"You do this and I'll get him a job in Laurel's firm."

"Make him partner."

"Straight out of school?"

"I'm going to be facing the full force of Chinese paranoia. Yes, straight out of school."

Tony nearly sighed. "Anything for you, Bell."

"You have something other than the fact that there will be an attack?"

"Yes, I'll make a comprehensive report in a few hours."

Bellamy groaned. "A big mess. What were Margaret Carter and your father thinking bringing Nazi spies into the fold? They should have been executed!"

"Yes, they should have," Tony said shifting in his seat. 

"Fucking hell. Now they're all dead and we're cleaning up the mess. I can't-" the door opened and a low voice began talking, "Yes. Yes. You'll have to excuse me. I'll need that report soon. Personal email. It’s _safe._ "

After the call ended, Tony sat unmoving on his chair until FRIDAY said, "Boss, you okay?"

"Billionaires just don't get any respect these days," he said instead of admitting he didn't enjoy the kind of conversations he was having these days. "Give an edited record of that to the King." 

"I'm assuming I'm supposed to edit out the deal you made."

"And the bit about my father. Remind him to get all information from Rogers and forward to Bellamy’s email. Leave no trace of the two of us. Let the Chinese assume it’s from the CIA or something.”

“Are you sure you’re OK?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

That was an easy lie to tell because there was nothing FRIDAY could do to help him. There was a peculiar heaviness in Tony that was not present before Mordo whisked him off to who knows where. One would think removing Maximoff's magic would lighten the load. Unless of course Mordo replaced hers with his. Tony could talk to Strange about this, it would not be the first time he has worked with an enemy but a much larger part of Tony wanted no one else in his head. 

Tony could go to a therapist but none of them had training with brainwashing or magic. Not to mention, he was perfectly fine even though Rhodey would not believe him. Tony was telling Rhodey the complete truth when he said he found something that helped him. For months Tony had an emptiness inside of him, it was good, it allowed him to function but it also made it hard to describe thoughts and the faint echo of feeling that would rise within him. Though that was a good payoff to finally have peace.

So Tony felt heavy as he looked at the labs being assembled for his suit and as he instructed FRIDAY to make backups of all the programs he had put into his suit and Rhodey's. The scientists brought in vibranium cases of nanobots programmed to hold the shape of a perfect ball. The cases were taken to separate part of the lab with the weapons based ones put inside bullet and explosive proof rooms.

"Tony," Patricia Wellington said standing beside him.

"Let me guess, you don't need me here."

"I have been working in this field for a decade now. Your A.I has all the research I have accumulated. Read it." Patricia spoke flatly as if she could care less if Tony did that.

"How long until the bots are fully functional."

"Two weeks since you have declined to narrow it down to precisely whatever you need-"

"I'll choose it when the times comes. Two weeks isn't so bad," Tony said sounding deliberately unimpressed.

Patricia scoffed. "A week then. You’ll have malfunctions but it’ll be quick."

"No, be thorough. I'll check in tomorrow, see if you need anything-"

Patricia said scrutinizing him in a vaguely smug way of someone getting their way. "Helen Cho. You're building a body. She built the android Vision."

"Fine."

It was only when he was inside the elevator that he realised how ridiculous it was to negotiate with employees but Patricia was a brick wall of stubbornness if she felt undermined or insulted. 

"Anything today?"

"Pepper sent you an email on the next generation of Stark products. Dr. Hudson has sent an update, they are deciphering the words you gave them. They think it might be contain a message. I think you need to finish-"

"I will. At least that is going somewhere." 

It was only now that Tony remembered that Mordo had been and probably still was spying on them. Did he see what Tony was working on? Tony wished he had asked him about the Gems.

There were five linguists now instead of just Hudson. They milled around a single screen with one word on it mumbling to themselves. Tony decided to find more words first and work on whatever Pepper wanted later. He could feel them looking at his back as he disappeared into his lab. The first thing he saw was Mordo standing in front of the large monitor with Ultron's code.

"Millions of lines. How'd you manage it?"

"I didn't. The Mind Gem did. Some of it was Jarvis’, my old A.I," Tony explained. "Why are you here?"

"I had gazed into your tower to see if my words were being heeded when I heard the Time Gem being discussed."

"I'm shocked you didn't know about it before you kidnapped me."

"Strange's wards are powerful and believe it or not, I don't have all the time in the world to combat them."

"Won't he know that you're here?"

Mordo finally looked at Tony. "Not exactly. I have come prepared. Tell me, Tony, where did you get the stone tablets your specialists are looking over?"

"Why?"

"Because they contain information that is unsettling."

"The Time Gem."

"Yes," Mordo said impatiently. "Where?"

It took Tony a minute to come to a decision. "In the millions of lines of code that first came from the Mind Gem. I think it's from Loki because it mentions Asgard, Odin and Thor. Loki was with someone called Thanos the mad Titan prior to his invasion of Earth."

Mordo closed his eyes. "Powers like these should not exist."

"Well, they do and they are somewhere out there. Help us by destroying them."

Mordo opened his eyes only to narrow them. "Destroy them?"

"Well you were talking about protecting the cosmos. I'm assuming you can travel across it."

"They should be sealed away. No one knows the damage destroying them will cause." 

"Fine, if we destroy anything, we destroy Thanos but what if he's not the last one to come looking?"

"Seal _and_ wipe away all knowledge of their existence from all living beings, Tony." Mordo faced him and spoke in a manner similar to a drill sergeant. "Keep looking. Do not rest until you've found what you need to find. I'll take care of Strange on my own."

"What, you're deciding my allegiance on my behalf?"

"You have proven to be a worthy ally after all," Mordo replied. "I admit I saw you as someone whose concerns were-"

"Selfish, I've heard it before-"

"Do not interrupt me. I meant to say you fight earthly battles against earthly foes. You were of no use as far as I was concerned but I was wrong."

"Oh."

"This," Mordo pointed at the screen, "is important, do not stop under any circumstance. I will also admit that the Ancient One and I lost track of the Mind Gem. Find it."

"And you'll find the others," Tony prompted.

Mordo looked briefly conflicted before resolve took over. "I will find them."

"Good. This is very good." Tony heaved a sigh of relief. "It's good not being the only one in this."

"Your friend, the Colonel, has he not been helping?"

"He is. He's making Avenger teams the world over."

Mordo was confused. "Just that? You have not thought to ask for help?"

"It's complicated," Tony said defensively.

Mordo was now unimpressed. "Make it simple."

"Yeah, I'm not going to. Look, I love Rhodey. Smartest man I've ever met and a good person. He doesn't agree with a lot of my decisions-"

"And because of that, you take the cowardly route and refuse completely-"

"Cowardly route? OK I'm guessing probably correctly that you've never had a friend-"

"Find your spine, Tony Stark. Save people's lives by facing your fears."

"Fortune cookie sayings aren't going to-"

"It's common sense," Mordo snapped before vanishing. 

Tony rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms. He sat down and forced himself to focus on the screen and not think about Rhodey. 

Hours later, he left with the room with three new words that had Hudson gasping as they appeared on the screen. It was late at night but Tony felt more awake than ever. He brewed a cup of coffee in the nearest kitchen and found a fresh bagel that he ate with it.

"Do you want takeout- boss a large sound is coming from one of your safe."

Tony arrived inside his penthouse with his hand and the sleeve of his shirt covered in hot coffee. He didn't care though. The safe was opened in seconds and the moment he touched the bead, T'Challa's began speaking.

"I have your friends here."

"That was fast," Tony said. "What, you told Rogers that Barnes was hurt?"

"That's exactly what I did. Get the pardons, Tony. I have sent what Rogers told me about Hydra's plan to the ambassador."

"Thank you. You work on the Council, I'll deal with everything else."

"I'll speak to you after my coronation."

"FRI, Laurel please." Tony put the cup down and began changing clothes.

"Tony. Anything new from you?"

"Yes, a friend of mine has captured the Rogers and his team. I have warned China about Hydra. Hopefully everything should go smoothly."

"Good. We're filing pre-trial motions in the morning first to dismiss the case and if that doesn’t work to rule out Germany since they agreed to a settlement with you."

"Who is likely to preside over it? I don’t want this to take years."

"You're not planning on bribe them, are you?" Laurel asked disapprovingly.

"You're great, Laurel, but it's definitely a possibility. This can only end one way as far as I’m concerned." 

"That's low, Tony, even for you," Laurel hissed.

"I hate them but we need them. Okay? One I'll be vindicated and you'll say 'thank God Tony didn't listen to me.'"

"I'm glad the pay here is great. It’s starting to feel like the only positive."

"Hey," Tony beginning to lose his patience, "I know you've done worse with Obadiah."

"Yes and I regretted it every day, Tony. You promised me you wouldn't put me in the same position."

"I have to-" the call was cut abruptly. "People will die."

Tony stood half naked for a few minutes before he mechanically put on another shirt and took the cup with him for refill. He remained in his lab until it was morning and yet he found nothing. Rhodey sent him a message while Tony showered about going to the Compound for the training facility with Strange and Peter. Tony had little else to do except work on the schematics for the next Stark phone and tablet. From noon until that night, he read the lines of code until he started to feel as if there was nothing more for him to find.

While eating curry alone, Tony wordlessly watched Colven at a rally in Idaho. For the third time in a week, Tony was let down by someone. Sure, he expected Colven to take the stance Evangelicals have taken since Hulk tore through Harlem but not while a sex tape was in the hands of his opponent.

"FRI file 83467. Release it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Tony said. "I have no use for that man. Tell Kristin in PR, I want every news channels, local and major to talk about it."

Tony had known that Colven was more likely to issue a presidential pardon immediately after assuming office than Smith was ever going to. Now he had to throw his lot with Smith. When it was starting to feel as if things could not get better, Jeffries called to inform him he found Natasha's contact.

"Everything he told you, I want it. Audio-"

"I wouldn't if I were," Jeffries said nonchalantly. "The man was well trained. It took a lot of persuading."

"I'll make a transcript out of it," Tony said trying to match his tone.

"Alright then," Jeffries said amused for some reason. "I'll keep in touch-"

"I need you in Washington."

"What for?"

"You'll know when you know. I'll have money wired to you. Stay completely off the grid."

Tony spent the next few hours back in that lab in what was increasingly feeling like fruitless search for more pieces. At a certain point he felt glad he had not gone through with his plan to pass this off to others. They would have found nothing but a reminder of what Tony was capable of. Finally Tony decided to sleep. His knees and back were very sore and his eyes felt dry and itchy. It was in that moment that Strange materialized before him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have had a really bad case of the writer's block. I think it's because of another WIP that is taking forever to finish. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. Many things have happened within it.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments. They are my fuel.


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